Dear Colleagues,

The UK Supreme Court last week decided a short case on the Protection from Harassment Act 1997: Hayes v Willoughby [2013] UKSC 17 http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/decided-cases/docs/UKSC_2012_0010_Judgment.pdf. The case concerned a campaign of harassment carried out by a man against his former employer, and the exceptions under the Act to what would otherwise be harassment if the purpose is for the detection of crime (s 1(3)(a)) or was reasonable (s 1(3)(c)).

Of interest to members of the ODG is the discussion of subjectivity and objectivity, and the proposal of Lord Sumption that there is a concept of rationality distinct from reasonableness which is applicable in both public and private law (but which is not the same as Wednesbury unreasonableness. Lord Reed dissents on this point, to my mind compellingly. (I am also not convinced that the Court of Appeal's approach to "the purpose" of the course of conduct did not adequately deal with the problem).

Best wishes,
James

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James Lee
Lecturer and Director of Careers
Academic Fellow of the Inner Temple
Birmingham Law School
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)121 414 3629
E-mail: j.s.f.lee@bham.ac.uk<mailto:j.s.f.lee@bham.ac.uk>



Web: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/law/lee-james.aspx