The Law Debenture Trust Corporation plc v Ukraine [2023] UKSC 11 Summary This contract law case is steeped in international geopolitics, with direct ties to the 2014 revolution that overturned the government of Viktor Yanukovych, and to the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. Law Debenture Trust applied for summary judgment. The UK Supreme Court rejected […]

Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (in administration) v Assured Guaranty Financial Products Inc. (2023), Index No. 653285/2011 Summary This case now holds the record as the longest-running case to come out of the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse, having entered the legal system in 2011. It was heard in the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court of […]

Fenchurch Advisory Partners LLP v AA Ltd [2023] EWHC 108 (Comm) Summary This High Court case centred on a dispute over whether a contract was validly formed despite the lack of signed engagement letter. Its significance lies in confirming basic points of law regarding contract formation. Judgment in this case was handed down on 24 […]

Attorney General v Blake & Another [2000] UKHL 45 This is a landmark contract law case that established the possibility of restitutionary damages as an award where ordinary damages are not practical or fail to adequately address the facts. A claimant can have a restitution interest in certain benefits which the defendant has acquired at […]

Sara & Hossein Asset Holdings Ltd v Blacks Outdoor Retail Ltd [2023] UKSC 2 Citations in [square brackets] refer to the judgment, which can be found here. Facts Blacks, the clothing chain, were the tenant of two properties in Liverpool owned by Sara & Hossein Asset Holdings. The two properties were governed by separate leases, […]

Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd v Heller & Partners Ltd [1963] UKHL 4 This landmark case established the principle of pure economic loss in English law. The House of Lords judgment provided that a duty of care arose when pure economic loss was provoked by certain conditions. While the case was in tort, its codification […]

Braganza v BP Shipping Ltd [2015] UKSC 17 This case refers to standards of reasonableness while employing contractually-granted discretion, specifically in the context of an employment contract. Judgment given on 18th March 2015 by the Supreme Court. By a 3-2 majority decision, the UKSC found for Mrs Braganza’s appeal. The UKSC judgment can be found […]

Arnold v Britton & Others [2015] UKSC 36 Summary The Supreme Court found that contracts should be interpreted according to the ordinary meaning of the words, if they are unambiguous. This applies even if this involves an absurd outcome. It is for contracting parties to draft and review their contracts to ensure that the language […]

What is EMIR 3? At the end of last year the European Commission released its proposal for EMIR 3, the latest in a series of reforms of European trading. This latest proposal includes a crucial intention to move a significant proportion of euro derivatives trading to EU CCPs, which will have significant implications for both […]