Monthly Archives: February, 2025
‘Recreation and Risk: The Book, The Website, The Links to Liability Waivers’
From time to time, liability waivers and exculpatory agreements have been a topic for the Blog. There was plenty of interest in the subject in connection with the OceanGate disaster in 2023. We also weighed in on the subject in connection with McKamey Manor. Last year, William Gordon Childs published Recreation and Risk, which provides […]
‘Belgium: A model for the transposition of the EU anti-SLAPP Directive’
In its judgment of 15 March 2022 in the case of OOO Memo v Russia, the ECtHR warned for ‘the risks that court proceedings instituted with a view to limiting public participation bring for democracy’. This approach referred to an earlier comment by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe calling for […]
Taimie Bryant, ‘What If Animals Are Moral Agents?’
In an essay titled ‘Should Animals Be Able to Sue People?’, Professor Sherry Colb considers Justice v Vercher, a lawsuit brought by Justice, a horse seeking damages for injuries resulting from his previous owner’s gross negligence. Gwendolyn Vercher had already been convicted of animal cruelty and paid the statutorily required restitution, but that restitution was […]
Jane Calderwood Norton, ‘The Supreme Court and the Law of Trusts and Charities’
ABSTRACT This chapter looks closely at two trust law decisions arising from the past decade of the New Zealand Supreme Court: Clayton v Clayton [Vaughan Road Property Trust] and Attorney-General v Family First New Zealand. On their face, these cases could not be more different. In the first, a wife wishes to access assets in […]
Stanescu and Damsa, ‘Research Methodologies for Consumer Contracts in the 21st Century New Wines, Old Bottles?’
ABSTRACT This chapter aims to provide an overview of some of the significant challenges posed by digitalisation to some of the fundamental concepts of contract law, such as offer and acceptance, consent, etc. It also outlines the research methods that will enable researchers to study consumer contracts in the digital age. Stanescu, Catalin Gabriel and […]
Weiming Tan, ‘Fiduciary Good Faith and Reparative Claims for Breach of Trust’
ABSTRACT In Credit Suisse Trust Ltd v Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Singapore Court of Appeal handed down an important decision on private law that involved a prominent public figure. A former Prime Minister of Georgia had sued his corporate trustee for breach of fiduciary duty. In a break from the ‘proscriptive’ view of fiduciary doctrine, the […]
‘The Not-So-Secret Lives of Trusts’
One common critique of trust law is that it exacerbates wealth inequality by creating layers of financial secrecy for families with substantial assets. By obscuring asset ownership through baroque legal vehicles invented by the ‘wealth defense industry’, elite families are able to preserve their wealth by avoiding financial obligations, most notably tax obligations … (more) […]
Matthew Leitch, ‘Accidents, Crises, and Events in the Supreme Court: Paul v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust’
ABSTRACT In Paul v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, the Supreme Court held that a secondary victim cannot recover damages for psychiatric harm caused by witnessing a primary victim’s medical crisis. This note examines the ratio of the majority’s judgment, that the secondary victim must witness an accident (or its immediate aftermath) to successfully recover damages. […]
Hannibal Travis, ‘Trademarks, Legal Remedies, and Social Injustices’
ABSTRACT This chapter explores trademark law and issues of moral and social justice that arise in its implementation. By promoting similar treatment of similar branding efforts and removing unnecessary barriers, the IP system could promote interpersonal justice in several areas of life. The sports and entertainment sector, retail, restaurants, and consumer goods markets are highly […]
Douglas Brodie, ‘The Demise of the “Voluntarist Exclusion Zone?”’
ABSTRACT In Secretary of State for the Environment v PCSU [2024] UKSC 41 the Supreme Court had to consider whether a trade union was entitled to sue on a provision derived from a collective agreement by virtue of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. The relevance of the presumption in s 179 of […]