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School of Law

UK Supreme Court Decisions on Private and Commercial Law: The Role of Public Policy and Public Interest

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London, 9 December, 2015: The Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS) held a major event on Friday 4 December to explore the most important judgments of the UK Supreme Court with regard to commercial and private law.

As the third in a series of periodic conferences organised by CCLS, the event, which took place at Court Room 1 at the UK Supreme Court, drew together a wide range of high profile and distinguished speakers including Lord Neuberger, President of the UK Supreme Court – who delivered the keynote address.

In an incisive address, Lord Neuberger spoke about the relationship and differences between academic lawyers, practising lawyers and judges - with particular reference to the UK Supreme Court. He discussed issues relating to senior judges writing judgments and subsequently commenting on those same judgments. He also spoke about the role of the UK Supreme Court, including a comparison with other European courts, as well of the evolution and future development of the Court.

Other speakers included: Sir Roy Goode, founder of CCLS and Emeritus Professor of Law at The University of Oxford; Sir Bernard Rix, recently retired Lord Justice of Appeal; Lord Hoffmann, retired senior British judge; Professor Robert McCorquodale, Director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), and Professors John Bell and Sarah Worthington from The University of Cambridge.

The event was convened by Sir Bernard Rix, Professor of International Commercial Law at CCLS and Stavros Brekoulakis, Professor of International Arbitration and Commercial Law at CCLS.

According to Professor Brekoulakis: “What was special about the event is that its topics cut across different areas: sovereign immunity, tax, financial law and insolvency, commercial contracts. Usually, conferences tend to focus on one subject matter, but we deliberately took a broader approach and focused on the significant developments of UK Supreme Court jurisprudence on a number of important areas. The general theme that unified the topics is public interest and public policy.”

The theme of the conference was inspired by the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. The event was part of the continuing focus of CCLS on the jurisprudence of the UK Supreme Court.


Media enquiries

Mark Byrne
Public Relations Manager (Humanities and Social Sciences)
Queen Mary University of London
T: 020 7882 5378
M: 078 1590 2560

About the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS)

The Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS) at Queen Mary University of London specialises in the knowledge and skills in commercial law that can be placed at the service of government, public bodies, overseas institutions, the legal profession, industry and commerce.

The Centre for Commercial Law Studies is based in the heart of legal London at the postgraduate law centre in Lincoln's Inn Fields. CCLS and the Department of Law are the two departments within the School of Law at Russell Group Member, Queen Mary University of London.

 

 

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