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Case law summaries

The 30 leading cases every law student and SQE candidate needs, in plain English: the facts, the decision, why it matters and how it comes up in exams. Each one has a citation you can copy straight into your footnotes.

Contract

[1919] 2 KB 571 (CA)

Tort

[1957] 1 WLR 582 (QB)

Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee

A patient injured during electroconvulsive therapy gave his name to the Bolam test, the standard of care for doctors and other professionals. TortBreach of duty [1990] 2 AC 605 (HL)

Caparo Industries plc v Dickman

Auditors owed no duty to a takeover bidder who relied on their accounts: the leading case on duty of care, negligent misstatement and pure economic loss. TortDuty of care [1932] AC 562 (HL)

Donoghue v Stevenson

The snail in the ginger beer bottle: the House of Lords case that created the modern law of negligence and Lord Atkin's neighbour principle. TortNegligence [1961] AC 388 (PC)

Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock & Engineering Co Ltd (The Wagon Mound No 1)

Oil spilled in Sydney Harbour caught fire and burned a wharf: the case that made reasonable foreseeability the test for remoteness of damage in negligence. TortRemoteness of damage [2018] UKSC 4, [2018] AC 736

Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police

Police arresting a suspect knocked over a passer-by: the Supreme Court case that explains how duty of care really works and corrects the Caparo three-stage test. TortDuty of care

Criminal law

[2017] UKSC 67, [2018] AC 391

Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd t/a Crockfords

A professional gambler's edge-sorting at a casino led the Supreme Court to replace the Ghosh test for dishonesty with a simpler objective test. Criminal lawDishonesty [1975] 1 WLR 1411 (CA)

R v Blaue

A stabbing victim refused a blood transfusion and died: the case that applies the thin skull rule to the victim's beliefs as well as their body. Criminal lawCausation [2003] UKHL 50, [2004] 1 AC 1034

R v G

Two boys set fire to newspapers that burned down a shop: the case that abolished objective Caldwell recklessness and restored a subjective test. Criminal lawRecklessness [1983] 2 AC 161 (HL)

R v Miller

A squatter fell asleep with a lit cigarette and did nothing when the mattress caught fire: the leading case on liability for failing to deal with a danger you created. Criminal lawOmissions [1999] 1 AC 82 (HL)

R v Woollin

A father threw his baby, who died: the House of Lords case that sets the test for oblique (indirect) intention in murder and other crimes. Criminal lawIntention

Land law

[1956] Ch 131 (CA)

Re Ellenborough Park

Homeowners' right to enjoy a communal park was a valid easement: the Court of Appeal case that set the four characteristics every easement must have. Land lawEasements [2007] UKHL 17, [2007] 2 AC 432

Stack v Dowden

An unmarried couple's house was split 65:35 even though it was in joint names: the leading case on shares in a jointly owned home. Land lawCo-ownership [1985] AC 809 (HL)

Street v Mountford

Calling an agreement a "licence" didn't stop it being a tenancy: the House of Lords case that sets the test for telling a lease from a licence. Land lawLeases (1848) 2 Ph 774, 41 ER 1143

Tulk v Moxhay

A buyer who knew Leicester Square was not to be built on couldn't build on it: the case that lets restrictive covenants bind later owners of land in equity. Land lawRestrictive covenants [1981] AC 487 (HL)

Williams & Glyn's Bank Ltd v Boland

A wife's share in the family home bound the bank her husband secretly mortgaged it to: the leading case on actual occupation and overriding interests. Land lawOverriding interests

Trusts and equity

(1726) Sel Cas Ch 61, 25 ER 223

Keech v Sandford

A trustee who renewed a lease for himself had to hold it on trust: the strict 18th-century rule that fiduciaries mustn't profit from their position. Trusts and equityFiduciary duties (1840) 3 Beav 148, 49 ER 58

Knight v Knight

A testator's hope that his estates would stay in the family didn't create a trust: the case that set out the three certainties needed for every express trust. Trusts and equityThree certainties [1971] AC 424 (HL)

McPhail v Doulton

A fund for a company's staff and their relatives was valid: the case that set the "is or is not" test for certainty of objects in discretionary trusts. Trusts and equityCertainty of objects (1862) 4 De GF & J 264, 45 ER 1185

Milroy v Lord

A failed transfer of bank shares wasn't saved as a trust: the case behind the rule that equity won't perfect an imperfect gift or assist a volunteer. Trusts and equityConstitution of trusts [1977] 1 WLR 527 (CA)

Paul v Constance

Telling his partner that money was "as much yours as mine" created a trust of a bank account: the leading case on informal declarations of trust. Trusts and equityCertainty of intention

Public law

[1948] 1 KB 223 (CA)

Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation

A council banned children from Sunday cinema: the case that gave its name to Wednesbury unreasonableness, the test of irrationality in judicial review. Public lawJudicial review [1985] AC 374 (HL)

Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service (the GCHQ case)

The ban on trade unions at GCHQ: the House of Lords case that made prerogative powers reviewable and set out the grounds of judicial review. Public lawJudicial review (1765) 19 St Tr 1029, 95 ER 807

Entick v Carrington

King's messengers searched a writer's home under a minister's warrant: the 18th-century case behind the principle that the state needs legal authority to act. Public lawRule of law [2017] UKSC 5, [2018] AC 61

R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union

The government couldn't trigger Article 50 without an Act of Parliament: the Supreme Court case on the limits of prerogative power and the status of conventions. Public lawPrerogative powers [2019] UKSC 41, [2020] AC 373

R (Miller) v The Prime Minister; Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland

The five-week prorogation of Parliament in 2019 was unlawful: the unanimous Supreme Court ruling on the limits of the power to prorogue. Public lawPrerogative powers

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LawSquads tutors write every summary in plain English and check it against the judgment and the leading textbooks. They're study aids: always read the judgment itself for an essay or a moot.

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The SQE1 assessment specification says candidates won't usually need to cite case names, but you do need the legal principles these cases established. Knowing the leading case is the quickest way to remember the rule. For law school exams, you'll be expected to cite them.

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Write the case name in italics followed by the neutral citation (if there is one) and the law report, for example Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 (HL). Every summary has a copy button, and our free OSCOLA reference generator formats any case for you.

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