Snippets from The Reduced Law Dictionary by Roderick Ramage
Hue & cry
The expression “hue and cry” in Henwood v Barlow Cowes (2008) (“he always intended to return…when the hue and cry had died down”) does not have the legal meaning that it had in Couther’s Case (1599), where a constable was indicted for refusing to make a hue and cry after notice of a burglary committed in the night. The Criminal Law Act 1976 repealed s8(1) of the Sheriffs Act 1886, which was the last statutory embodiment of the Anglo-Saxon duty of males to chase a criminal, when the person wronged called for help: “raised the hue and cry”.
PILON or ex gratia
Ms O’Farrell’s employment contract could be terminated by three months’ notice. It did not contain any provision for a payment in lieu of notice. She was made redundant, and a letter setting out her severance packed included “an ex gratia payment equivalent to three months’ salary”. She made a claim for pay in lieu of notice. The EAT, in Publicis v O’Farrell (2011), agreed. The letter was unambiguous
