Articles by author
Retained EU Law: the implication of keeping s 6 dormant
Nearly five years after the end of the Brexit transition period, legacy EU law continues to occupy a substantial place in the UK legal system. Legislation enacted in 2023 was designed to reduce the scope and status of this body of domesticated EU law. Most of these measures were brought into force on 1 January 2024, but one major element of the reform – intended to encourage UK courts to depart from pre-Brexit EU case law – was not due to come into effect until 1 October 2024. But at the end of September, the new government quietly announced that commencement of the new rules would be postponed. In this In Practice article we examine the rules, how they would fit into the scheme of changes already in force and what we can expect now.
24 OCT 2024Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell: will Brexit mean more jurisdiction skirmishes?
In Okpabi & others v Royal Dutch Shell plc & another [2021] UKSC 3, the Supreme Court held that the claimants had an arguable case that Royal Dutch Shell, the UK-incorporated holding company in the Shell group, owed a duty of care to people affected by the operations of a Nigerian subsidiary. The claims will now return to the High Court, which will decide whether in fact such a duty was owed and, if so, whether it was breached and caused the loss claimed. Some commentators have seen the decision as heralding a new wave of international tort claims in the English courts. However, changes brought about by Brexit, as well as the court’s earlier judgment in Lungowe v Vedanta, may complicate this analysis.
1 APR 2021
