Case Reports

The Supreme Court has ruled that a medical certificate of injuries allegedly sustained by a victim of assault was inadmissible evidence because the certifying doctor had not examined the victim. It was held that section 25 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the State Act 1997 required a doctor issuin

A Romanian politician given a suspended sentence for abuse of authority who challenged the judgment on the basis two of the judges had not signed it and had retired before its reasoning was finalised has failed in his Article 6 appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. In its decision in the cas

Northern Ireland's High Court has denied leave for judicial review to an applicant who believed that being forced to rely on in-patient mental health treatments violated his rights under Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court held that systems in place to provide ment

The High Court has refused an appeal for a personal insolvency arrangement (PIA) after it was held that the debtor’s income had not been “assessed and verified by the PIP in such a manner as would give confidence as to its accuracy”. The court held that the PIA left “no room

Northern Ireland's High Court has ruled in favour of a convicted arsonist freed more than 33 years ago who submitted that a law preventing convictions of more than 30 months' imprisonment from ever becoming spent breaches his human rights. The court was persuaded to make a declaration that Article 6

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Health Service Executive (HSE) was required to carry out assessments of children with suspected disabilities on a chronological and nationwide basis. In so ruling, the Court rejected a submission that the HSE could carry out such assessments of need on a region

The High Court has granted an injunction against the DPP restraining the prosecution of a man of a drug-driving charge due to a breach of fair procedures. The court held that the wrong charge had been preferred by the DPP and that the DPP had made representations to the District Court that the charg

A Spanish law governing the registration of births that gives the father's name immutable precedence over the mother's where there is a disagreement falls foul of the ECHR, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. The Article 14 case concerned the applicant’s request to reverse the order

The Court of Appeal has upheld a conviction of a man who sexually abused his nephew between 1989 and 1991. In so ruling, the court rejected the submission that the non-availability of his deceased mother as a witness should have led to the withdrawal of the case from the jury. The court applied the

The Court of Appeal has increased a damages award for a man who had his constitutional right to earn a livelihood infringed by a trade union. The man had received €15,000 from the High Court in the quantum hearing. However, the Court of Appeal held that the trial judge had erred in a number of

The High Court has determined that a motor insurer must provide cover for a man who was badly injured when the lifting mechanism of a lorry failed and dropped a large bin on him. The dispute came before the court as a special case pursuant to Order 34 RSC, in circumstances where two insurers could n

The High Court has determined that the Secretary of State failed in his statutory duty to provide abortion services ‘expeditiously’ following a 19-month delay; however, a breach of ECHR Art 8 was not established. In these proceedings, brought partly on behalf of Amnesty International and

The Court of Appeal has upheld an appeal by Clare County Council against a €113,000 damages award for personal injuries sustained in a highway accident. The plaintiff had successfully litigated in the High Court after he had fallen off his bike due to a defective ramp on a highway maintained by

The Court of Appeal has ruled that Aer Arann must pay more than €3.2 million to the State arising from a finding of unlawful State aid. The EU Commission had previously determined that an air travel tax imposed by the State conferred a competitive advantage to Aer Arann in contravention of Art

Northern Ireland's High Court has directed that an investigation into the 1998 Omagh bombing that is compliant with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights should be carried out following a judicial review. The application for judicial review was brought in 2013 by Michael Gallagher, th