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The planning system is very far from straightforward and sensible landowners seek legal advice before tackling it. The point was underlined by one case in which a farmer ended up with a part-built barn and at risk of enforcement action if he completed the development. The farmer argued that the barn was reasonably necessary for his agricultural unit and proposed using it for storing potatoes and as a maternity unit for his 45 ewes during the winter months. He began construction work after applying to the local authority for prior...

The finding that more than a third of users of the Internet in the UK have been 'trolled' or been the subject of harassment or 'cyber-bullying', sometimes with severe effects on those singled out for online abuse, has led the Government to commission an independent review of the laws that relate to such abuse, with a view to stamping it out and making the Internet a place where users are safe from those seeking to attack them. The setting up of an independent commission to carry out the review is...

Even the most careful drafting cannot always succeed in dispelling ambiguity or in making provision for all future eventualities. As a High Court case concerning a family trust showed, however, the courts are always there to act as a neutral umpire in resolving otherwise intractable disputes. A successful businessman had, by a 1925 indenture, established a substantial trust fund for the benefit of his only daughter. After she died childless, the fund passed to her uncle's 13 children. One of the 13 had two sons, Jeffery and David, both deceased....

If you rely on your accountant's advice regarding a tax issue, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will now regard you as having taken 'reasonable care' to get things right and will not impose a penalty. On 14 February, HMRC issued new guidance relating to the penalties regime for failure to take reasonable care in making tax returns. It states that if you have 'used a tax adviser with the appropriate expertise, HMRC would normally consider this as having taken reasonable care' unless you do not give them 'accurate and complete...