Law Report: Case Summaries

THE following notes of judgments were prepared by the reporters of the All England Law Reports:

Copyright

Collins v Imtrat Handelsgesellschaft gmbH; ECJ; 20 Oct 1993.

Copyright and related rights fall within article 7 of the EEC Treaty, and therefore the general principle of non-discrimination on the ground of nationality applies to such rights. A member state cannot, by national legislation, grant protection of copyright and related rights to its own nationals and exclude authors or performers from another member state.

Crime

R v Goodwin; CA (Crim Div) (Farquharson LJ, Alliott, Pill JJ); 9 Nov 1993.

A trial judge should not initiate an invitation to the prosecution to lead evidence of the defendant's bad character by ruling that the defendant's contention - that he had no knowledge of the presence in his car of an offensive weapon - constituted an imputation of a prosecution witness's

veracity.

Charles Sherrard, who did not appear below, (Registrar of Criminal Appeals) for the appellant; Richard Sones (CPS) for the Crown.

R v Skinner; CA (Crim Div) (Farquharson LJ, Alliott, Pill JJ); 8 Nov 1993.

The court disapproved of any practice whereby police officers held a conference together at the courthouse immediately before going into court to give evidence.

Any rehearsal or coaching practices were to be strongly discouraged and it was particularly important to follow those rules where police officers were concerned.

Jonathan Mitchell (Registrar of Criminal Appeals) for the defendant; Richard Travers (CPS) for the Crown.

Discrimination

Burrett v West Birmingham Health Authority; EAT (Knox J, T S Batho, A Ferry); 5 Oct 1993.

A female nurse who was disciplined for refusing a nurse's cap - which served no practical purpose and which was not worn by male nurses - and who regarded wearing a nurse's cap as demeaning, was not treated less favourably than male nurses and her employer had not discriminated against her on the ground of her sex.

Elizabeth Norman (Tyndallwoods & Millichip) for the nurse; Jeremy McMullen (Gateley Waring) for the health authority.

Education

R v Governors of Hasmonean High School, Ex p B (minors); CA (Glidewell, Evans, Waite LJJ); 3 Nov 1993.

There is no statutory duty to comply with parental preference as regards admission to a school in respect of a child for whom a statement of special educational needs has been made, nor is there was a statutory right of appeal. However, the governors of a school are required to make a decision in accordance with their own published criteria for admission.

Richard Clayton (Teacher Stern Selby) for the children; John Friel (Apple Kosky) for the governors.

Housing

Hudges and anor v Greenwich London Borough Council; HL (Lord Templeman, Lord Bridge of Harwich, Lord Lowry, Lord Browne-Wilkinson and Lord Slynn of Hadley); 21 Oct 1993.

The headmaster of a residential school who, taking advantage of his contractual entitlement to free accommodation, lived in a house in the school grounds did not occupy the accommodation because he was required to do so or because it was necessary for the proper performance of his duties. He was therefore entitled to exercise his right to buy the house under the Housing Act 1985.

Frederic Reynold QC and Paul Stewart (Borough Solicitor) for the council; Michael Hart QC and Christopher Tidmarsh (Lee Bolton & Lee for Ian Poole, Haywards Heath) for Mr and Mrs Hughes.

Interim payment

Stringman v McArdle; CA (Butler-Sloss, Stuart-Smith LJJ, Sir Tasker Watkins); 1 Nov 1993.

Provided that the conditions set out in RSC Ord 29 r 11 were satisfied, the judge ordering an interim payment in respect of damages was not concerned with the use to be made of the money but with making a payment of such an amount as was just, not exceeding a reasonable proportion of the damages.

Rodney Scholes QC and A T Goff (Dooley & Co, Kirkby) for the plaintiff; Andrew Edis (Hill Dickinson Davis Campbell, Liverpool) for the defendant.