Law Making Key Cases Flashcards
Dunblane
18 people were killed and 17 were injured during a school shooting using a handgun. This caused public outrage and added pressure for the government to ban people from being able to carry a handgun, which did happen.
Co-o lotion government
nick clegg promised that he would reduce university fees however when he got voted in the conservatives decided that this promise wouldn’t go ahead. Therefore, nick had to break his promise
Strikes
these pressure groups all decided to go on strike until they received a pay rise which they did end up getting
Road traffic act
allows the secretary of transport to pass more detailed laws on driving bans. It was used in 2003 to ban mobile phones whilst driving.
Covid
orders in council): king and privy council created covid regulations as it was an emergency law
Fire brigades union
the courts declared ultra vires as the new rules which were made went beyond the parent act
Aylesbury mushrooms
the courts declared it void as they didn’t carry out the correct process as they didn’t consult people who would have been affected by the law
Rodgers v Swindon NHS trust
doctor refused to prescribe a drug for breast cancer to Rodgers but prescribed it to other women in the same area
Jon warboys
was a taxi driver who sexually assaulted 12 women and was convicted to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 8 years and was granted parole by the parole board after 8 years. When the victims of his crimes were notified, they requested a judicial review, and he was kept in prison.
Molly russel
Molly committed suicide at 14 years old after becoming depressed due to her accessing websites which were not appropriate for her age, the websites showed videos of children self-harming and of people committing suicide. A judicial review was requested as the websites didn’t require any age identification or parent monitoring systems
Berriman
Berriman was hit by a train whilst “maintaining” a railway line without having a lookout and sine he wasn’t ‘relaying or repairing the track he wasn’t entitled to a watch man or any compensation.
Whitley v chapel
he defendant wrote down the names of recently deceased people to vote however it is only an offence to impersonate people who are entitled to vote-which dead people are not. The defendant was found not guilty.
R v Allen
defendant was charged with bigamy; he argued that he was only legally married to one wife so was therefore not guilty. However, he did go through a marital ceremony with both Wifes therefore was found guilty.
R v sigsworth
defendant was the sole inheritor of his mother’s money, so he murdered her. The literal rule would have led to an unreasonable outcome, so the courts ruled that he was entitled to nothing
Smith v Hughes
he defendants were prostitutes charged with soliciting in the street. They argued that they were not in the street they were on balconies and in windows. They were found guilty as the michef the law was designed to remedy was to stop prostitution in general.
RCN V DHSS
only medical practitioners were allowed to carry out abortions and it was questioned whether nurses could carry out abortions. It was allowed as the law was to protect women and stop backstreet abortions.
R v register x parte -smith
defendant rook the correct steps to see his birth mother however he was a psychotic murderer, and it was believed that he would harm his mum, so it wasn’t allowed.
R v HFEA
was questioned whether embryos created by CNR come within the definition of embryo. HOFL decided that embryos created by CNR were included.
Mendoza v ghadian
rent act said that if a person who had tenancy of a house died their unmarried partner unmarried partner could succeed tenancy. It was questioned whether same sex couples were included. The human rights act states that there can be no discrimination based on gender or sexuality, so it was allowed.
Donogue v Stevenson
miss Stevenson found a disintegrating snail in her ginger beer and become ill so she took Stevenson’s to court for compensation. The judge’s precedent was “you must take reasonable care to avoid acts or ommitions in which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to harm your neighbor”
Daniels v white
a man drank a lemonade which contained left over chemicals and became ill so decided to sue the lemonade company. The case followed the judge’s precedent in Donoghue v Stevenson.
R v R
man had separated from his wife and she oved back to her parents’ house- he forcibly entered the property and raped his wife. He said he was not guilty of rape as she consented to sexual intercourse in their marriage contract. The crown court judge found him guilty and when he appealed the case the appeal court judge, and the house of commons agreed with the original judge.
R v Howe
3 teenagers were forced to torture and murder other teenagers by Murray- they were told if they didn’t, they would face the same situations. They tried to use duress but the judge’s obiter dicta was that the defense of duress should not be available to one who commits murder.
R v gotts
: a son was ordered by his farther to kill his mother otherwise he would be shot- the son stabbed his mother several times and caused mass injuries, but she survived. The son was charged with attempted murder and declared duress. The same obiter dicta was used from the r v howe case.
