Case Reports

The General Court of the European Union has ruled that the repute of McDonald’s trade marks makes it possible to prevent the registration, for foods or beverages, of trade marks combining the prefix ‘Mac’ or ‘Mc’ with the name of a foodstuff or beverage. The Court today upheld the European

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal brought by a man in respect of his conviction for sexual assault and other conduct to the prejudice good order and discipline under the Defence Act 1954. Ronan Donaghy had been in the Defence Forces for 21 years, and along with Ms C, was stationed at Aiken

in a procedure of this kind operates to create an estoppel against the party who elected to avail of that procedure” (Corrigan v. Irish Land Commission I.R. 317 and The State (Byrne) v. Frawley I.R. 326.) The appellant also argued that he should have been given a copy of the report compiled for

The Court of Appeal has found that a case brought by a man in respect of his wife under section 48 of the Civil Liability Act 1961 is statute barred. The case brought by Mr Joseph Hewitt concerned the death of Ms Dolores Hewitt. She had been receiving treatment for breast cancer since 2001 in Our La

The Supreme Court has ruled that two men accused of robbery and kidnapping can be put on trial for the third time, following two prior lengthy trials which had been discharged after juries were unable to agree as to the guilt or innocence of the accused. Niall Byrne and David Byrne had been listed f

A challenge to a 2008 decision endorsing a prohibition on settlement of the British Indian Ocean Territories has been dismissed by the UK Supreme Court. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal by a majority of 3 to 2. Lord Mance gave the majority judgment, with which Lord Neuberger agreed. Lord Clark

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal against an order of the High Court which refused an applicant leave to judicially review legislation relating to the requirement that drivers wear safety belts, and the related punishments for breaches of those laws. The appeal concerned a number of convicti

The Northern Ireland High Court of Justice has found that the appropriate method for making a statement in court when the parties have agreed their dispute prior to the issuing of proceedings is for a summons to be issued. The procedural question was whether the parties had to issue proceedings, con

The Court of Appeal has overruled an award of damages made by the High Court, in respect of personal injuries suffered by a woman during a taxi ride in 2007, finding that the award in relation to pain and suffering was disproportionate. The defendants had appealed against the judgment and order of t

The article 10 right to freedom of expression of three journalists who intercepted radio communications between the carabinieri, one of Italy's armed forces, in order to arrive quickly at crime scenes and report on them were not violated, the European Court of Human Rights has unanimously ruled. Str

The High Court has refused all reliefs sought by a woman who brought two judicial review cases seeking to challenge a decision to remove animals owned by her. The applicant, Dona Sfar’s, sheep and pigs had been seized from her by the Department of Agriculture, following six inspections by a Veteri

A former member of the Tamil Tigers who claimed asylum under an EU directive on the basis he would face torture if returned to Sri Lanka has had his application referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union as no authorities are on point. The appellant is a Sri Lankan national who arrived i

The High Court has found that the Clinical Director of the Central Mental Hospital did not breach his statutory duties or violate the Constitutional or Convention rights of a woman who sought to amend the conditions for her release from the Hospital. Furthermore, as the woman had been granted an un

The High Court has issued an order of certiorari quashing the decision of An Bord Pleanála to allow a wind farm to be built in County Clare on the grounds that they did not comply with the requirements of the Planning and Development Act 2000. Ms Kathleen Connolly had sought an order quashing a dec

The rental and lending rights in respect of books also applies to electronic books according to an Advocate General of the European Court of Justice. In the view of Advocate General Szpunar, the lending of electronic books is comparable to the lending of traditional books, which means that the gener