Blogs

In 2008 a court in New Zealand ordered a child's first name to be changed because the child feared being "mocked and teased", and criticised the parents for poor judgement in choosing a name that made the child look foolish.

The child had been named Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii.  She called herself K. 

The effects of social networking and the net on the law are widespread.  We have posted blogs before about Twitter and superinjunctions, use of the net and Facebook by jurors and other such topics which have become headaches for judges as they try to catch up with the mature Information Age.  Now we have reports in the press of an issue which gets to one of the most sensitive and heart-rending areas of law: adoption of children. 

On the 9th November 2011, the Supreme Court laid down long awaited guidance on how to determine the respective beneficial interests of a couple in a property purchased in joint names, where there is no express declaration of trust.

What is the legal position regarding the St Paul's protest? 

There is a long tradition in this country of a right to protest but unfortunately in this case, the situation is complicated by trespass issues created by the encampment outside the Cathedral.

In the recent case of  'Hufton -v- Somerset County Council' [2011] EWCA the Court of Appeal considered the extent of a school's duty to prevent its pupils from injuring themselves whilst on the premises. 

The Claimant was a schoolgirl at the Defendant's school.  She suffered a knee injury when she slipped on water on the wooden floor of the school's assembly hall during a 'wet weather' break.

It is a sad fact that the rise of social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook has lead to an increase in activity by individuals known in internet slang as "trolls".  Trolling is the act of posting malicious comments in blogs, chat rooms or discussion forums with the intent of causing offence and upset to readers.

The European Court has found in favour of a pub landlord in Portsmouth to the effect that a law which has the effect of banning use of decoder cards to obtain a foreign broadcast of football matches, is contrary to EU competition law which protects free movement of services. 

About 1,000 files from a will-writing firm called Minster Legal Services (not solicitors) were recently dumped by their staff on the pavement in front of the offices of another will-writing firm in Doncaster. The sole director of Minster had died and this seems to have been Minster's way of attempting to transfer its business lock stock and barrel to another company, regardless of the interests of clients or even their basic right to confidentiality.

As you may know, the Dilnot Report (July 2011) currently in the news, flags up serious concerns over social care for the elderly.  One element highlighted is that people diagnosed with dementia, living in a care home, will not necessarily receive funding from the NHS despite dementia being a medical issue.

A court has told a woman that she will have to undertake psychological therapy before she can resume contact with her daughter.

The woman was described as “emotionally fragile”. She had tried to commit suicide after separating from her partner, who was the father of her daughter.

The court granted an order saying that the daughter should live with her father.

The mother was granted supervised contact at a contact centre. Later, however, the centre refused to arrange any further meetings because of the mother’s aggressive and argumentative behaviour.