Can refusal to grant a sex shop licence breach the applicant’s human rights? Nicholas Dobson investigates
A case described by Baroness Hale as taking the prize “for the most entertaining name of any that have come before us in recent years”, Miss Behavin’ Ltd v Belfast City Council [2007] UKHL 19, [2007] All ER (D) 219 (Apr) concerned a council’s refusal to grant a sex shop licence in a district of Belfast. The council appealed against a decision of the Court of Appeal quashing this refusal because the council had not taken sufficient account of the claimant’s relevant rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention).
JUDGES AND MODERN CULTURE
Judges nowadays are unlikely to ask (as once popularly perceived): “Who are the Beatles?” Indeed, they can often demonstrate an impressive awareness of modern culture. A case in point was Mr Justice Kitchen in his decision in the trade mark infringement case of Dearlove (trading and professionally known as ‘Diddy’) v Combs (trading and professionally known as ‘Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs’, ‘Puffy’ and ‘P.Diddy’) [2007] All ER (D) 367 (Feb) where he
