the
reduced law dictionary (extracts)
the law in snippets of 101 words
by
Roderick Ramage, solicitor, www.law-office.co.uk
first
published in New Law Journal (newlaw.journal@lexisnexis.co.uk) on 20 November
2009
previous
extracts were published in NLJ on 19 September, 7 & 28 November and 12
December 2008, and
30 January, 28 February, 3 April, 15 & 19 May, 3 July 2009, 14 August 2009
and 9 & 30 October 2009
DISCLAIMER
These snippets are not advice to
any person (or at all) and may not be taken as a definitive statement of the
law in general or in any particular case. The author does not accept any
responsibility for anything that any person does or does not do as a result of
reading any of them, but does hope that at least some of them will raise a
smile.
driving test car
The Motor Cars (Driving Instruction) Regulations 2005, r8 requires you to provide for your driving test a right
hand drive four wheeled passenger car with a rigid roof, which has an adjustable
driving seat with a head restraint and seat belt, a forward-facing front
passenger seat, rear view mirrors for both the front passenger and the driver
and is otherwise be suitable. Unless you
are disabled, the car must also have a means whereby you may, independently of
the use of the accelerator or the brakes,
gradually vary the proportion of the engine’s power which is transmitted to the
road wheels.
24.vii.09
filing in time
A
company limited by shares or by guarantee with a share capital must, within one
month of making an allotment of shares, deliver to the registrar a return of
allotment: Companies Act 2006 s555. If
the company makes default, an offence is committed by every officer of the
company who is in default is liable on summary conviction to a fine not
exceeding the statutory maximum (£5,000) or a daily default fine not exceeding
one-tenth on the statutory maximum: ibid s557.
In one, doubtless exceptional, case the court allowed registration 24
years out of time: re Wilkinson Sword Co Ltd (1913).
26.xii.08
liquidated damages in employment
The
Tullett company, knowing the difficulty and expense of recruiting someone with
Mr El-Hajjali's specialist skills, stipulated in its contract with him that, if
he failed to take up the agreed employment, he would pay a sum equal to 50% of
his net annual salary and 50% per cent of the signing payment that the company
had contracted to pay. Mr El-Hajjali changed his mind and did not take up the
employment. Tullett was unable to fill
the vacancy and sued for damages. In
Tullett v El-Hajjali (2008) the QBD held that the payments were liquidated
damages and not a penalty.
12.i.09
no visible means of subsistence
Do not forget to take cash or a credit card with
you. You may be liable to a fine not
exceeding level 1 on the standard scale, if found wandering abroad and
lodging in any barn or outhouse, or in any deserted or unoccupied building, or
in the open air, or under a tent, or in any cart or waggon, without any visible
means of subsistence, not giving a good account of yourself and having failed
to apply for or refused accommodation at a reasonably accessible place of
shelter: Vagrancy Act 1824 s4, Vagrancy
Act 1835 and Criminal Justice Act 2003.
16.iv.09
purposeful construction
The
application of TUPE to "a person employed by the transferor ...
immediately before the transfer" had been the subject of much
litigation. Was the day before
immediately before? Could two weeks
before be immediately before? An
employer, to accommodate the prospective transferee's wishes about which
employees should be transferred, dismissed some employees before the transfer
date. In Litster v Forth Dry Dock and
Engineering Co Ltd (1989) the HL construed the 1981 TUPE to include persons
dismissed because of the transfer, now done by the 2006 TUPE. However Litster, no longer needed for
"immediately before", also gave us purposeful construction.
4.x.08
rich and poor and auto-enrolment
Apart
from the natural rebel, who won't join for the sole reason that the government
tells him to, this government scheme is designed to rob both rich and
poor. The rich, with enhanced protection
of their pension under the Finance Act 2004, will suffer penal taxation, when
auto-enrolled, unless they act promptly to opt out. The poor, who would otherwise benefit from
the social security system, will be penalised, if their pension schemes, be
they only paltry, take them out of means tested benefits, while and their
improvident neighbours, who opted out and did not save, enjoy those benefits in
full.
22.vi.09
stop on red
The Traffic Signs Regulations and General
Directions 2002 tell us, in reg 33, the size, colour and sequence of
illumination of light signals for the control of traffic and, in reg 36, their
significance, of which the key passage is: “the
red signal shall convey the prohibition that vehicular traffic shall
not proceed beyond the stop line,” with exceptions for the emergency services. The key point for the defence lawyer to
remember is that the stop line can be several cars’ length before the junction,
so if you are in that space, you may proceed even if the light turns red.
29.viii.09
copyright
Roderick Ramage
click
below to