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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.
Research conducted by Durham University on the reconciliation of free speech with rights of privacy and reputation has significantly affected contemporary law and policy around the law of privacy, media injunctions and libel reform. Specifically, it has:
(1) resulted in a substantial contribution to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Libel Working Group and hence to the Defamation Bill 2012 which followed (now the Defamation Act 2013);
(2) strongly influenced the report of Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights on the human rights aspects of that Bill;
(3) influenced a major parliamentary inquiry on privacy;
(4) helped change Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidelines on prosecuting the media for privacy-related offences including phone-hacking;
(5) been used in argument by an NGO intervening in two important cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
Beale was a major contributor to research published in 2000 as The Principles of European Contract Law (The Principles). The Principles had and continue to have a major impact on the development of contract law at both the EU and national levels. They formed the basis of subsequent work that led to the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR, 2009), which incorporated The Principles. The Principles and the DCFR have influenced interpretation in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) / Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and are cited in national courts. They have had a significant impact on reform of national laws and led directly to the European Commission's proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (CESL, 2011). With support from the University of Warwick, Beale played a key role not only in producing The Principles but in all the subsequent stages, including being a member of the Expert Group that produced a first draft of the CESL.
Scams and underhand sales practices are estimated to cost consumers in the UK over £3 billion each year. Collins's research has identified gaps in the remedies available to consumers who are victims of unfair commercial practices or scams. Consumer Focus (an independent but government-funded agency) relied heavily on his research in their 2009 report, which informed the Law Commission's 2011 proposals for reform of the law, and which in 2013 led Parliament to legislate to close the remedial gaps.
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.
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.
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 Sue Arrowsmith's research significantly influenced UNCITRAL's revised 2011 Model Law on Public Procurement. This is a model regulatory framework of global relevance that aims to help national governments avoid waste, secure adequate public services, and fight corruption in procurement. The UNCITRAL Secretariat's presentation of reform options to the Model Law Working Group was based directly on both the novel analytical templates and the detailed recommendations developed by Arrowsmith, and many of the revised Model Law's provisions on both existing and new subjects of regulation follow directly the specific recommendations in Arrowsmith's research.
Much has been written about mental condition defences such as insanity and diminished responsibility together with the cognate doctrine of unfitness to plead. However, most of this work has been doctrinal rather than empirical. This case study has developed a sustained and continuing understanding of how certain mental condition defences operate in practice, primarily through empirical analysis. R.D. Mackay's empirical studies of both the insanity defence and unfitness to plead and his studies of diminished responsibility, provocation and infanticide have been used by and have influenced law reform bodies, legislators, policy development and legal analysis.
Professor Fraser Davidson's research underpinned impact on public policy and law-making in Scotland by enriching and informing the development by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament of a new legal framework for commercial dispute resolution under the Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010 ("the 2010 Act"). This Act has the objective of entirely reforming the Scots law of arbitration and establishing Scotland as a major forum for international commercial arbitration, with resultant economic benefits.