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21 January 2022 / Michael L Nash
Issue: 7963 / Categories: Features , Constitutional law
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Probate, princes & privilege

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Michael L Nash explores the secretive history surrounding the sealing of royal wills

The need—or the desire—for privacy has always been an element of the actions of those in high places.

The presence of privilege also has been accepted in any hierarchical society, which most societies are. Parliament in the UK, for example, is no stranger to privileges, nor any of the other components of the establishment.

The point is this: people have become much more aware of their rights, or what they perceive as their rights. One of these is that everyone is equal and has the same rights. So, when it is known that for most people their wills fall into the public domain, and can be read by everyone, there is disquiet and questions when a few wills are sealed and kept from general view.

It is equally arguable, as was done in the recent case concerning the will of the late Prince Philip, that everyone’s wills should be sealed and kept out of the public domain. Counsel

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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