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'Providing a Moral Compass for British People': The Work of Joseph Tregelles, Evan Rees and The Herald of Peace
No full textJudicial Experiments in Caseflow Management 1920-1970
Get PDFThis article explores the evolution of a subordinate judicial office of the Official Referee which was the revolutionary creation of the Judicature Commission of 1872. What is described here is the innovation and evolution of a rudimentary form of case management more than 70 years before its formal introduction in the English courts under the Civil Procedure Rules. This article considers evidence of that evolution as well as the innovations and experiments of judges ahead of their time: Sir Francis Newbolt and his successor Official Referees. It argues that the consensual and business-like approach adopted by Newbolt and others facilitated earlier settlement by means of judicial encouragement during discussions in chambers at an early interlocutory stage. It considers the extent to which Newbolt’s Scheme focused on what Marc Galanter has described as ‘quality of outcome’ and attempts to place this study in the context of the approach taken by Galanter. Such study would not be complete without reference to the work of the late Simon Roberts, which saw civil courts as being transformed into instruments of structured negotiation
Pushing Corruption and Money Laundering into Reverse Momentum: Echoes from the Corporate Governance Arena
Get PDFIn this article, the author emphasizes how corruption and money laundering have caused incalculable economic damage to society. The two problems are intricately linked and very difficult to separate. The board of directors should introduce an enhanced corporate governance mechanism(s) alongside other countermeasures in order to minimize weaknesses in the current system. In exercising their corporate function(s), aside from other committees, the board should focus more on the audit committees. It is very important that the board uses the services of competent non-executive directors (NEDs) on the audit committees. NEDs should monitor the authenticity of audit reports and minimize the occurrence of fictitious financial reports that aid fraud. Efforts at whistle-blowing should be encouraged with rewards by the board for curtailing fraud through such brave conduct. Fictitious and vexatious reports should not go unpunished. The time is ripe for boards to focus on corporate ethics and make sure that they are practised across the entity from ‘the top to the shop floor’. The corporate culture should be seen to nurture the best behaviour in people. This approach has very strong potential to minimize fraudulent and dishonest behaviours that translate into corruption and, by implication, money laundering.
Keywords: corruption; money laundering; board of directors; whistle-blowers; non-executive directors; corporate ethic
The breach of contractual indemnities under English law – a debt claim or a damages claim?
Get PDFIn 2015 the English High Court delivered two important but not widely publicised judgments in the cases of ABM Amro Commercial Finance plc v Ambrose McGinn & others [2014] EWHC 1674 (Comm.) and Durley House Limited v Firmdale Hotels plc [2014] EWHC 2608 (Ch.). Febechi Chukwu reviews those judgments, and several previous rulings by the English courts, concluding that the lack of a single interpretive rule for contractual indemnities in English law is a preferable approach. The English courts should be clearer in accepting the complexity of properly interpreting indemnities and assessing the available remedies for breach. Ultimately that assessment is substantially dependant on how the indemnity in question is drafted and constructed in the contract. The courts should boldly promote the more nuanced approach to determining whether a particular breach gives the innocent party a right to a claim in debt or a claim in damages, and this will be of benefit also to practitioners negotiating indemnity clauses in English law contracts
Do events since 23 June 2016 strengthen or weaken the case for the United Kingdom adopting a written, codified Constitution?
Get PDFThis article discusses the UK Government’s proposals to adopt a codified Constitution in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland after the Brexit Referendum of 2016. It discusses the reasons behind the lack of support for a codified Constitution, weighing up arguments for and against. The article concludes that although a codified Constitution may provide greater certainty, without recognition of the theoretical doctrines and concepts that form the current constitutional framework, a codified Constitution would be administratively unworkable