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With over 130,000 insolvencies (corporate and personal) recorded annually in England and Wales insolvency is a significant area of legal practice. This study spotlights one major publication (Sealy and Milman: Annotated Guide to Insolvency Legislation) which has informed, and is informed by, other scholarly pieces. Evidence is offered of this publication's reach, indicating how it has developed into an authoritative legal source in its own right. Users of the research include lawyers advising/representing their clients, repeat players (such as HMRC) and judges dealing with issues of interpretation. These groups benefit by having professional time saved in researching points and by having something to base advice or a decision upon when there is no available precedent. The ultimate beneficiaries are the public who rely on legal advice and whose rights depend upon favourable judicial rulings.
Influential work on insurance law by Professor Rob Merkin led directly to the repeal of the outmoded and increasingly unpopular Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 1930. With its predecessor criticised for its demands on time and costs, a new Act made it simpler, faster and cheaper for a third-party claimant to recover compensation from an insurer without instituting proceedings against the insured. Merkin not only drew policymakers' attention to the old Act's defects but provided a detailed basis on which to formulate its successor, which earned Royal Assent in 2010.
Professor Iain Ramsay's research into personal insolvency and regulation of consumer credit has had a far-reaching, significant impact, which has been felt in four major ways. First and most recently, Ramsay has drawn on his published research to co-author a highly influential World Bank report, which forms the foundation for future policy in this area and has already been relied upon in the Colombian national reform process, with India and South Africa likewise proposing to use it to frame their domestic reform discussions. Second, a number of influential UK governmental and non-governmental committees (including the Select Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills, National Audit Office and Office of Fair Trading) have each drawn on Ramsay's research. Third, Ramsay has been invited to advise other national governments and commissions (including Ireland, and Sweden), as well as acting as the UK rapporteur on EU studies (e.g. of interest rate ceilings). Finally, he has drawn on his research to advise NGOs in Europe, Latin America and at the international level (including The Centre for Responsible Credit; Consumers International; the International Protection of Consumers Committee of the International Law Association; and Brasilcon).
Professor Lastra's research on central banking, financial regulation and cross border resolution of banking crises has had a significant practical effect in setting the agenda for the reform of the law in these areas nationally and internationally. As a result of her work, international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, international standard-setters such as the Financial Stability Board, European institutions such as the European Central Bank and the European Commission, and national institutions such as the Bank of England have initiated or revised rules and policies aimed at reforming financial regulation and enhancing stability.
In 2010 the Ministry of Justice formally accepted recommendations by the Law Commission to introduce a new non-statutory rule of disclosure for trustee exemption clauses in England and Wales. Newcastle research had a direct impact upon the development of the law on trustee exemption clauses. In 2002 Dunn successfully tendered to undertake research on trustee exemption clauses in England and Wales on behalf of the Law Commission. Dunn's research was published by the Law Commission as a separate and distinct chapter of its consultation paper on trustee exemption clauses. The research (alongside consultation responses) influenced the Law Commission's recommendation that a non-statutory rule of disclosure be introduced into the law of England and Wales. This recommendation was accepted by the Government in 2010 and has been implemented by the trust industry.
Researchers, led by Seneviratne, have long influenced debate and had impacts in practice within various dispute resolution frameworks. Seneviratne's work on the civil litigation system (with Peysner), has had broad and significant influence in reviews of civil justice systems internationally, as has Peysner's other research undertaken at this UoA. Seneviratne's work on insolvency complaints and disciplinary procedures (with Walters) has had real influence in informing both domestic Parliamentary and international debate regarding insolvency practitioner regulation.
The statutory definition of "insolvency" involves proving a debtor's "inability to pay debts." In corporate insolvency, this definition is found in s123 Insolvency Act 1986. Although s123 has existed for over a hundred years (in various forms), its meaning has not been fully understood. The historical explanation of this definition, found in the underpinning research, as to the true meaning of the definition, has been adopted by the Supreme Court (in May 2013) in BNY Corporate Trustee Services Limited v Eurosail [2013] UKSC 28 in overruling the Court of Appeal's "point of no return" interpretation of s123.
This research has made a sustained and continuing impact on the development and application of the substantive criminal law, including mens rea and general defences, and especially in the areas of complicity and homicide, in terms of
i) development of the law by the appellate courts;
ii) application of the law by practitioners; and
iii) government policy as to the reform of the law of murder and complicity.
Professor Adrian Keane's research relates to the law of criminal evidence, that body of law which regulates the means by which facts can be proved in criminal trials. His publications on the subject have effected change and benefited the awareness, capacity, performance and understanding of the subject on the part of:
(i) the judiciary in the UK and internationally, in reaching decisions at both first instance and at appellate level; and in giving directions to juries on evidential issues that are as clear and consistent as possible
(ii) legal practitioners
(iii) law academics and students (an impact that extends significantly beyond the submitting higher education institution)
(iv) legislators in the People's Republic of China.
The most significant impact stems from participation in a project in Beijing that led directly to a revised Criminal Procedure Law that has improved the quality of the administration of Chinese criminal justice. Specifically, it has rendered criminal trials fairer to the accused and reduced the potential for miscarriages of justice, especially in relation to offences carrying the death penalty.
Two particular examples of impact on legislative change and legal practice are described: impact on the parliamentary process and impact on mental health practice and procedure. The first example describes contribution to debate during the parliamentary process for the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill and contribution to the decision to reject rushed emergency legislation. The research team's response to the consultation by the Justice 2 Committee was widely referred to by organisational representatives and individuals in the debates. The second example focuses on the impact from a key text, which has been used by both sides and judges in Sheriff Court appeals. The impact here is in its verifiable effect on the practice of law in courts and in the making of legal determinations.