Celebrated for their conceptual clarity, titles in the Clarendon Law Series offer concise, accessible overviews of major fields of law and legal thought. This chapter deals with the tort of conversion. Conversion is best regarded as the tort which protects the owner of goods not against their being damaged (negligence covers that) but against their being dealt with or detained against his will. It is concerned with loss of goods rather than damage to them. The chapter discusses what goods can be converted; what entitlements the claimant in conversion must show; liability in conversion; remedies, such as the return of the goods or damages or both; and length of protection provided to the legal owner of goods.
Chapter
11. Conversion
Chapter
8. Freedom for Individuals to Provide and Receive Services
Articles 56–7 TFEU lay down the principle of freedom to provide services on a temporary basis by a person established in one Member State to a recipient established in another. This chapter first considers who is entitled to benefit from the services provisions and the rights they enjoy in respect of: (1) initial access to the market; (2) the exercise of the freedom; and (3) the enjoyment of social advantages.
Chapter
10. Mortgages
A mortgage is a form of security for a loan, the purpose of which is often to finance the purchase of a house. This type of mortgage is known as acquisition mortgage. The house can also be used as security for other borrowing (for example, to pay for an extension to a house) or to finance a small business. Such mortgages are generally termed second, or even third, mortgages. The person who creates the mortgage is called the mortgagor and the person in whose favour it is created is called the mortgagee. The mortgagee is a secured creditor and can transfer the mortgage to another person. This chapter, which focuses on the nature of mortgages and how they are created, also discusses the role of mortgages, types of mortgage, rights of the mortgagor, rights and remedies of the mortgagee, the question of undue influence, and priority of mortgages.
Chapter
3. An Introduction to the Trust
This chapter introduces the concept of the trust in England. It explains that the trust is a core element of Equity and its nature and function has developed over time. It discusses the fundamental principles relating to the trust, the classification of different types of trust, and identifies the rights and interests associated with them. This chapter suggests that, while many of the essential components of the modern commercial trust can be traced back to the medieval use, the context in which the trust arises today is completely different, and this has had a significant impact on the development of the contemporary law of trusts.
Chapter
11. Evidence obtained by illegal or unfair means
This chapter discusses the circumstances in which relevant evidence can be excluded, as a matter of law or discretion, on the grounds that it was obtained illegally, improperly, or unfairly. The principles for exclusion of evidence are considered, and exclusion in both civil and criminal cases is covered. In respect of civil cases, discretionary exclusion under the civil procedure rules is examined, and in respect of criminal cases, discretionary exclusion at common law and under statute is discussed. The chapter also considers the circumstances in which criminal proceedings should be stayed as an abuse of the court’s process, where a trial would undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system and bring it into disrepute.
Chapter
10. Nuisance
Celebrated for their conceptual clarity, titles in the Clarendon Law Series offer concise, accessible overviews of major fields of law and legal thought. This chapter deals with the tort of nuisance, which is concerned exclusively with land. Nuisance embraces all the multifarious rights and interests appertaining to land — that extremely distinctive form of property whose characteristics include uniqueness, durability, fixity, contiguity, visibility, and short supply. Some such rights are natural, others must be acquired; some are absolute, others qualified; some depend on physical possession, others, such as easements, do not. One of these rights is the right to enjoy one's land. The chapter discusses how the four elements (earth, air, fire, and water) can affect the landowner or occupier; cases where a defendant is held liable for failing to protect his neighbour; the nature of the occupier's duty; disamenity as the characteristic of nuisance law; and whether a landlord is liable for a nuisance committed by a tenant.
Chapter
9. Union Citizenship
This chapter examines the concept of Union citizenship and the rights EU citizens enjoy. European citizenship allows individuals a variety of associative relations based on economic, social, cultural, scholarly, and even political activities, irrespective of the traditional territorial boundaries of the European nation states. In particular, this chapter examines the rights enjoyed by citizens under the Citizens’ Rights Directive 2004/38, including family rights and the rights citizens enjoy irrespective of whether they are economically active.
Chapter
3. Environmental values, principles, and rights
Stuart Bell, Donald McGillivray, Ole W. Pedersen, Emma Lees, and Elen Stokes
This chapter focuses on the complexity of environmental problems, which is one of its defining characteristics in the sense that there are often many interconnected, variable elements to the problem. It considers the interaction between values and environmental law, which involves some reflection on differing attitudes to the environment. The chapter examines some of the ways in which these values are translated into environmental principles, such as the goal of sustainable development or the Precautionary Principle; it then goes on to consider the question of whether these principles have legal status in the sense that they create legally enforceable rights and duties. Finally, it considers broader questions of environmental justice and the role of different types of rights in environmental protection.
Chapter
15. Ordinary Remedies
Sir William Wade, Christopher Forsyth, and Julian Ghosh
This chapter is concerned with the remedies of private law which play a part in public law. First come the remedies related to powers (actions for damages, injunctions, declarations and relator actions). A final section contains such remedies as private law supplies for the enforcement of duties.
Chapter
13. Rights and Duties of Membership
This chapter addresses the rights and obligations of membership. It explains what a member's share in the LLP entails, and considers how the share can be assigned or treated as property. It considers the duties that members owe to the LLP and to each other, including both fiduciary duties and those that arise under a common law duty of care. It considers what duties a member may have to outsiders, and also the protections that a member may have in the event of unfair treatment by the LLP.
Chapter
7. Relations between principal and agent
D Fox, RJC Munday, B Soyer, AM Tettenborn, and PG Turner
This chapter focuses on the rights and obligations of the principal and the agent between themselves, whether arising from a contract between them or from the fiduciary nature of their relationship. However, those rights and obligations may also derive from other sources, for example tort, statute, or the law of restitution. There is detailed consideration of the duties of the agent, such as the duty of care and skill and fiduciary duties, as well as the rights relating to remuneration, reimbursement and indemnity, and lien. The chapter also discusses the ways by which agency may be terminated.
Chapter
1. Ethics and Medical Law
This chapter discusses various aspects of ethics and medical law. It begins with a definition of medical law. It then covers the nature of illness, the scope of medicine, the sociological impact of being ill, UK health statistics, and general ethical principles. This is followed by discussions of the notion of rights; patients’ obligations; principlism; hermeneutics; casuistry; feminist medical ethics; care ethics; virtue ethics; and communitarian ethics. It also explains the role of theology, relativism, and pragmatism in medical ethics. The chapter also explores the links between ethics and law. It cannot be assumed that because something is unethical it must be unlawful, nor that everything unlawful is necessarily unethical.
Chapter
11. Evidence obtained by illegal or unfair means
This chapter discusses the circumstances in which relevant evidence can be excluded, as a matter of law or discretion, on the grounds that it was obtained illegally, improperly, or unfairly. The principles for exclusion of evidence are considered, and exclusion in both civil and criminal cases are covered. In respect of civil cases, discretionary exclusion under the civil procedure rules is examined, and in respect of criminal cases, discretionary exclusion at common law and under statute is discussed. The chapter also considers the circumstances in which criminal proceedings should be stayed as an abuse of the court’s process, where a trial would undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system and bring it into disrepute.
Chapter
1. Introduction to Bioethics
A. M. Farrell and E. S. Dove
This chapter is the first of two in this textbook that focus on bioethics. This chapter introduces the aims, scope, and methods of the applied field of bioethics, and of the wider discipline of ethics in which it is located. It explains why (bio)ethical analysis is an essential companion to legal scholarship when it comes thinking about ‘what should be done’ in health and medical contexts. This chapter takes the first steps in equipping the reader with the tools to engage in bioethical debate. It indicates the kinds of language used in these debates. And it emphasises the importance of reason-giving and conceptual clarity. Expanding on the theme of reason-giving, it explores some the places we might look for relevant and persuasive grounds to support our ethical claims. In doing so it highlights important distinctions between ethical claims, on one hand, and empirical observations, personal preferences and intuitions, community norms, and popular opinions, on the other. It looks briefly at the role of principles in bioethics, and the value of identifying context-responsive principles and priorities rather than relying on prescribed frameworks. It closes by introducing the idea of ‘interests’ and suggesting that identifying whose interests are affected, and how, are important steps in developing and defending our responses to ethical dilemmas.
Chapter
8. General principles of EU law and EU administrative law
Herwig CH Hofmann
General principles of EU law are principles which govern all legal acts of the EU and those of Member States when acting in the scope of EU law. They have become particularly important in terms of administrative implementation of EU law by Union institutions and bodies as well as by Member States. This chapter addresses some of the most important of these principles concerning procedure and substance of implementation of EU law within a multi-level system. The principles discussed in this chapter include proportionality, the rule of law, good administration, information rights and the conditions necessary to ensure the right to an effective remedy. Each comes with examples.
