Practical Law

Arnold Bennett: “The chief beauty about time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.” As … Continue reading Welcome to 2018 →

Lewis Carroll, Through the looking-glass: “‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less’.” A selection of the more interesting decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners during the final quarter of 2017.

Following business as usual this week, Practical Law Construction will send its last email of 2017 next week, to arrive in your inbox on Thursday 21 December 2017. We are then taking a break until the new year. The first email of 2018 will be sent to arrive in your inbox on Thursday 4 January 2018. … Continue reading Email arrangements over Christmas and the new year →

Euripides, The Children of Heracles: “In case of dissension, never dare to judge till you’ve heard the other side.” A selection of the more interesting decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners during the third quarter of 2017.

Shakespeare, Hamlet: “Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.” A selection of the more interesting decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners during the second quarter of 2017.

Shakepeare, Sonnets: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.” It isn’t often that we resort to Shakespeare on this blog and, given the wind and rain of early May, something from the Tempest may have been more apt. … Continue reading May 2017 digest: adjudication and eclectic comment →

Algernon Charles Swinburne, Atalanta in Calydon: “And frosts are slain and flowers begotten, and in green underwood and cover, blossom by blossom the spring begins.” In keeping with the time of year, we decided to spring clean and have changed the format of our quarterly review. What follows are some of the more interesting decisions affecting … Continue reading January to March 2017 case review for construction practitioners →

Arnold Bennett: “The chief beauty about time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.” As … Continue reading Welcome to 2017 →

Shakespeare, Sonnets: “How like a winter hath my absence been from thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen! What old December’s bareness every where!” December is often a quiet month in current awareness terms, and this month was no exception. The government’s appeal to the Supreme Court … Continue reading December 2016 digest: e-filing and Canary Wharf →

Oscar Wilde, The Ballad of Reading Gaol: “I know not whether Laws be right, or whether Laws be wrong; All that we know who lie in gaol is that the wall is strong;” We have seen a number of interesting decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners during the fourth quarter of 2016.

Following business as usual this week, Practical Law Construction will send its last email of 2016 next week, to arrive in your inbox on Thursday 22 December 2016. We are then taking a break until the new year. The first email of 2017 will be sent to arrive in your inbox on Thursday 5 January 2017. … Continue reading Email arrangements over Christmas and the new year →

Charles Bukowski, Notes of a Dirty Old Man: “Courts are places where the ending is written first and all that precedes is simply vaudeville.” We have seen a number of interesting decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners during the third quarter of 2016.

Edmund Burke, Speech on conciliation with America: “I am not determining a point of law; I am restoring tranquility.” During the second quarter of 2016 we have seen a number of interesting decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners.

Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist: “‘If the law supposes that,’ said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, ‘the law is a ass – a idiot. If that’s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is, that his eye may be opened by experience … Continue reading January to March 2016 case review for construction practitioners →

Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: “‘Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?’ he asked. ‘Begin at the beginning’, the King said, gravely, ‘and on till you come to the end: then stop.’” As one year ends, so another year begins. Practical Law has been reflecting on events in 2015 and looking forward to 2016.

J K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: “‘Are you planning to follow a career in Magical Law, Miss Granger?’ asked Scrimgeour. ‘No, I’m not,’ retorted Hermione. ‘I’m hoping to do some good in the world!’” The second half of 2015 has seen a number of interesting decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners. For ease, we … Continue reading July to December 2015, a half year case review →

Following business as usual this week, Practical Law Construction will send its last email of 2015 next week, to arrive in your inbox on Thursday 24 December 2015. We are then taking a break until the new year. The first email of 2016 will be sent to arrive in your inbox on Thursday 7 January 2016. … Continue reading Email arrangements over Christmas and the new year →

Lord Denning, Parker v Parker: “What is the argument on the other side? Only this, that no case has been found in which it has been done before. That argument does not appeal to me in the least. If we never do anything which has not been done before, we shall never get anywhere. The … Continue reading January to June 2015, a half year case review →

TS Eliot, Little Gidding: “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.” As one year ends, so another year begins. Practical Law has been reflecting on events in 2014 and looking forward to 2015.

Abraham Lincoln: “Let me not be understood as saying that there are no bad laws, nor that grievances may not arise for the redress of which no legal provisions have been made. I mean to say no such thing. But I do mean to say that although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed … Continue reading July to December 2014, a half year case review →

Following business as usual this week, Practical Law Construction will send its last email of 2014 next week, to arrive in your inbox on Wednesday 24 December 2014. We are then taking a break until the new year. The first email of 2015 will be sent to arrive in your inbox on Thursday 8 January 2015. This email … Continue reading Email arrangements over Christmas and the new year →

Aristotle: “How many a dispute could have been deflated into a single paragraph if the disputants had dared to define their terms.” The first half of 2014 has seen a number of important decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners. However, we have not included cases arising from the Jackson reforms, particularly costs management and relief from sanctions … Continue reading January to June 2014, a half year case review →

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ring out, wild bells: “Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow. The year is going, let him go. Ring out the false, ring in the true.” As one year ends, so another year begins. Practical Law has been reflecting on events in 2013 and looking … Continue reading Welcome to 2014 →

Francis Bacon, Of Great Place: “Set it down to thyself, as well to create good precedents as to follow them.” The second half of 2013 has seen a number of important decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners.

White Christmas: “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas Just like the ones I used to know Where the treetops glisten and children listen To hear sleigh bells in the snow.” Following business as usual this week, Practical Law Construction will send its last e-mail of 2013 next week, to arrive in your inbox on Thursday 19 … Continue reading E-mail arrangements over Christmas and the new year →

Aristotle: “How many a dispute could have been deflated into a single paragraph if the disputants had dared to define their terms.” The first half of 2013 has seen a number of important decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners:

WE Gladstone, Speech on the Reform Bill: “You cannot fight against the future. Time is on our side.” As one year ends, so another year begins. We have been reflecting on events in 2012 and looking forward to 2013.

Edmund Burke, Speech on concilliation with America, 1775: “It is not, what a lawyer tells me I may do; but what humanity, reason, and justice, tell me I ought to do.” The second half of 2012 has seen a number of important decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners:

Frosty the Snowman: “Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul With a corncob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal.” Following business as usual this week, PLC Construction will send its last e-mail of 2012 next week, to arrive in your inbox on Thursday 20 December 2012. We are then taking … Continue reading E-mail arrangements over Christmas and the new year →

Sir Edward Coke, Institutes: Commentary upon Littleton: “Reason is the life of the law, nay the common law itself is nothing else but reason…  The law, which is the perfection of reason.” The first half of 2012 has seen a number of important decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners:

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ring out, wild bells: “Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow. The year is going, let him go. Ring out the false, ring in the true.” As one year ends, so another year begins. PLC has been reflecting on events in 2011 and looking forward to … Continue reading Welcome to 2012 →

Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist: “‘If the law supposes that,’ said Mr Bumble… ‘the law is a ass – a idiot.’”: The second half of 2011 has seen a number of important decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners, including:

Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody: “So here it is merry Christmas, everybody’s having fun. Look to the future now, It’s only just begun.” Following business as usual this week, PLC Construction will send its last e-mail of 2011 next week, to arrive in your inbox on Thursday 22 December 2011. We are then taking a break until the … Continue reading E-mail arrangements over Christmas and the new year →

The extension of the costs management pilot came into effect over the weekend (on 1 October). From now until the pilot ends on 30 September 2012, any case in the TCC and Mercantile Courts that has its first case management conference (CMC) during the pilot period, will be subject to the pilot. As such, the parties will … Continue reading Should I be worried about the costs management pilot? →

Solon (630-555 BC), Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Emminent Philosphers: “Laws are like spiders’ webs: if some poor creature comes up against them, it is caught; but a bigger one can break through and get away.” The first half of 2011 has seen a number of important decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson: “Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.” At the start of the new year, PLC Construction has been reflecting on events in 2010 and looking forward to 2011.

Plato (427 BC – 347 BC), Dialogues, Phaedo: “The partisan, when he is engaged in a dispute, cares nothing about the rights of the question, but is anxious only to convince his hearers of his own assertions.” In July, we reported on the notable decisions from the first half of 2010. The second half of the year has … Continue reading July to December 2010, a half-year case review →

‘Twas the night before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore: “Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.” PLC Construction will send its last e-mail of 2010 … Continue reading E-mail arrangements over Christmas and new year →

The first half of 2010 has seen a number of important decisions affecting construction and engineering practitioners.

As TS Eliot wrote (in Little Gidding): “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.” As one year ends, so another year (and another decade) begins. PLC Construction has been reflecting on events in 2009 and looking forward … Continue reading Say hello to the “twenty tens”, wave goodbye to the “noughties” →

“On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me A partridge in a pear tree…” PLC Construction will send its last e-mail of 2009 next week, to arrive in your inbox on Thursday 24 December 2009. We are then taking a break until the new year. The first e-mail of 2010 will be … Continue reading E-mail arrangements over Christmas and new year →

Akenhead J’s judgment in Allied P&L Ltd v Paradigm Housing Group Ltd raises several interesting questions about adjudication enforcement. PLC Construction has discussed the case with Calum Lamont, counsel for Allied at the enforcement hearing, to identify some of these issues. Following that discussion, here are PLC Construction’s thoughts on some key points.

“Through the Looking Glass”, by Lewis Carroll: “‘I mean, what is an un-birthday present?’ ‘A present given when it isn’t your birthday, of course.’ Alice considered a little. ‘I like birthday presents best,’ she said at last.” PLC Construction is celebrating its first birthday, and what a year it has been. For construction practitioners, the … Continue reading We are one! →