Ian Smith reports on a case which could open up a pallet of worms
Every now and then when reading a case you start to feel, in the words of that great Irish jurist Terry Wogan, “Is it me?”. In other words, is it genuinely strange, or am I missing something?
The most positive thing to say about Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospital Trust [2010] EWCA Civ 571, [2010] All ER (D) 247 (May) is that permission is being sought to appeal to the Supreme Court; it is to be hoped that it will be granted because as it stands this decision could open up a veritable pallet of cans of worms, without it being too obvious on what basis.
To be fair, one problem was that the appeal took the form of an appeal against a striking out application (rather than a final judgment on the facts) which can often complicate matters and, moreover, it appears that the original grounds of appeal (on whether Art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights could be used to reappraise certain longstanding limitations on
