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The Supreme Court has a busy week ahead. On Monday and Tuesday it will, for the first time, sit in two separate divisions. All of the Justices (with the exception of the President of the Court, Lord Phillips) will be sitting. The fact that the “Current Sittings” page on the website only lists one case for Monday and Tuesday seems to be an error as both cases are listed on the current version (version 7) of the list of Judicial Sittings for Hilary Term 2010.
This is because a new case has recently been listed at short notice. The case of W (Children) is an urgent child case in which permission was given on 17 February 2010, the first instance hearing having taken place on 30 November 2009. It will be Lord Walker, Lady Hale and Lords Brown, Mance and Kerr. Our case preview can be found here and the (incomplete) “Case Details” are here.
The second appeal was in the original version of the Hilary Term list before a bench including “Justice 12”. This the Scottish case Inveresk Plc v Tullis Russell Papermakers Ltd (Scotland). It will now be heard by a bench consisting of Lords Hope, Rodger, Saville, Collins and Clarke – Lord Saville making his first Supreme Court appearance of the term has replaced the still unappointed “Justice 12” . The case is an appeal from the Extra Division of the Inner House (Lords Kingarth, Wheatley and Clarke, [2009] CSIH 56). It concerns competing claims arising from an Asset Purchase Agreement. The “Current Cases” feature on the Supreme Court website is, as yet, unaware of the existence of this case.
Lords Rodger, Mance and Kerr will also sit next Wednesday to hear an oral application for permission to appeal in Patmalneice v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, an appeal from [2009] EWCA Civ 621. The case concerns the steps that a national of an EU member state is required to take to preserve her status as a worker under Article 7(3)(c) of the Citizenship Directive 2004/38/EC. It is the first oral application for permission which has been listed in the Supreme Court.
There are no appeals listed before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council next week and no judgments have been announced (although the website promises that future judgments will be announced here).
The Court has announced that judgments are to be handed down in three cases next Wednesday. The cases of Martin and Miller v HM Advocate are both appeals from the Scottish High Court and will consider the powers of the Scottish Parliament in matters which are normally reserved for Westminster. The issues raised in these appeals are discussed in detail by Aidan O’Neill QC of Matrix and Ampersand here. Judgment will also be handed down in R (on the application of Lewis) v Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council and another and will determine whether Cleveland Borough Council was wrong to determine that an area of land did not constitute a town green under the Commons Act 2006. The case is previewed here by Laura Coogan of Olswang.
The following Supreme Court judgments remain outstanding:
R (JS Sri Lanka) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, heard 13-14 Jan 2010
