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When children suffer unexplained injuries, few would quarrel with social workers and medical professionals taking a precautionary approach. However, as a family judge's ruling showed, the cloud of suspicion that often hangs over parents in such cases is not always justified. The case concerned a baby boy who was observed to have suffered bruising at his two-month check-up. He was referred to hospital where, according to a radiologist, a CT scan indicated a non-displaced skull fracture. After the local authority took protective measures, the boy's parents very responsibly consented to...

UK Border Force officers wield a battery of powers designed to combat smuggling – but they must not be exercised unreasonably. The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) made that point in coming to the aid of a woman whose family car was loaded with over 300 litres of wine when its driver was stopped as he prepared to cross the Channel. After the car was pulled over at Coquelles, near Calais, which lay within UK customs enforcement territory, officers took the view that it was being used for smuggling or attempted smuggling...

Before embarking on any form of property development it is absolutely vital to seek a lawyer's confirmation that you are entitled to proceed. The point was underlined by the case of a couple who knocked down their home and replaced it with a block of flats in breach of their neighbours' rights. The couple's home was on an estate characterised by spacious residences in leafy gardens. With a view to downsizing, they obtained planning permission to demolish their house and erect a building containing five flats in its place. After...

Far too many people put off making a will until ill health strikes and reminds them of their mortality. In a striking case on point, the High Court ruled that a will signed by a prosperous farmer when he was in his 80s and suffering from dementia was not worth the paper it was written on. For many years prior to his death, the farmer made it plain to members of his family that he intended to leave all of his farmland to one of his sons – the farming...