Vicarious Liability and Course of Employment in the UK Supreme Court and High Court of Australia

by Professor Paula Giliker, University of Bristol Law School This blog will discuss two recent and important 2023 cases: the UK Supreme Court decision in Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v BXB [2023] UKSC 15 and that of the High Court of Australia in CCIG Investments Pty Ltd v Schokman [2023] HCA […]

‘Escapades’ and Labour: Chaucer, Chaumpaigne and Legal History

by Professor Gwen Seabourne, University of Bristol Law School In the first half of this academic year, a lot of interest was generated by discussion of newly-discovered documentary evidence relating to the life of medieval English poet and author, Geoffrey Chaucer. This was explored in a special edition of a literary journal, The Chaucer Review. Something new about Chaucer was […]

Project: False Allegations Watch (FAW)

 by Michael Naughton, the Law School, University of Bristol Introduction: The competing camps on alleged sexual offences Our existing contemporary moment can be characterised in terms of an increasingly divided society along strict adversarial lines. Whether it be the recent public conversations about Brexit, COVID vaccinations, climate change or mere routine day-to-day political debates, there […]

How does the UK promote migration whilst preserving the hostile environment? Inequality in the implementation of the Global Compact on Migration

by Kathryn Allinson, University of Bristol, and Clara Della Croce, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Introduction The UK has adopted the Marrakesh Compact and agreed to implement the objectives which it sets out (see paragraph 41 of the Marrakesh Compact). The UK Government has repeatedly claimed that national policy is not in conflict […]

The Convergence of Law, Race, and Development

by Foluke Adebisi, University of Bristol Law School In an entry in the Encyclopedia of Law and Development, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021, I examine the nexus of the seemingly straightforward concepts of law, race, and development. The full text can be accessed here or through your local library or other institutional channels. [Alternatively, contact me.] […]

To Marry and to Burn: Punishing domestic treachery in medieval England

By Gwen Seabourne, University of Bristol Law School One of the less enthusiastic endorsements of marriage is to be found in the words of St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: ‘it is better to marry than to burn’. His point was that celibacy was the best way to live, but those too weak to […]

“Tailoring” the Close Connection Test for Sexual Abuse Victims: Vicarious Liability in the Court of Appeal

by Paula Giliker, Professor of Comparative Law, University of Bristol Law School. The doctrine of vicarious liability renders a defendant strictly liable for the torts of another (X) where: Stage One: the defendant is in a relationship with X which makes it fair and just for the law to make the defendant pay for the […]

‘Abusers always work from home’

by Marilyn Howard, Honorary Research Associate with the University of Bristol Law School This week the House of Commons considers amendments from the House of Lords to  the Domestic Abuse Bill 2019-2021. One amendment which was debated in the Lords, but not accepted, would have  required the new Domestic Abuse Commissioner to publish a report […]

Stop Period Shaming: A Campus Movement or Ethical Care?

Prof. Xinyu Wang (China University of Political Science and Law) and He Xiao (a law PhD student at the University of Bristol) Since October 2020, a “Stop Period Shaming” campaign has been quietly taking place within universities in China. It all started in early 2020, during China’s fight against the COVID-19, with various socially sponsored […]

Bell v Tavistock: the Medico-Legal Consequences

by Sandra Duffy, Law School, University of Bristol On December 1st, the High Court handed down its decision in the case of Bell and A v Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust. This ruling concerned a judicial review of the practice of the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service in prescribing puberty-blocking hormonal treatments to children under 16 years of […]