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Month: May 2025


Advance choices across jurisdictions – mental health and physical health

Posted on 23 May 2025 Updated on 23 May 2025

In the context of the imminent start of the Public Bill Committee stage of the Mental Health Bill in the… Read more

Posted in Mental Health Reform, Research of interest     Tags: mental health reform     Leave a comment     


Law Commission Modernising Wills Law project reports

Posted on 16 May 2025 Updated on 16 May 2025

After nearly 10 years, much longer than most projects (and caused in part by the then-government requesting a delay at… Read more

Posted in Legislative developments     Tags: wills     Leave a comment     


An important reminder that it is the judge who has the final say as to best interests

Posted on 15 May 2025

In University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v PK & Anor [2025] EWCOP 17 (T3), McKendrick J was asked… Read more

Posted in Best interests, Case comments, Medical treatment     Tags: Best interests, medical treatment     Leave a comment     


Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – updated positions of key bodies and corrections to impact assessments

Posted on 15 May 2025 Updated on 15 May 2025

I have updated my resources page to include the updated position of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a statement made… Read more

Posted in Assisted dying / assisted suicide     Tags: assisted dying / assisted suicide     Leave a comment     


39 Essex Chambers May 2025 Mental Capacity Report – issue 150!

Posted on 13 May 2025 Updated on 13 May 2025

The May 2025 Mental Capacity Report.  It is our 150th issue, and, to mark this, Tor Butler-Cole KC and have… Read more

Posted in Newsletters     Tags: Newsletters     2 Comments     


Litigation capacity – and what happens if you never had it?

Posted on 12 May 2025

Johnston v Financial Ombudsman Service [2025] EWCA Civ 551 is a case with a particularly complicated procedural history, but for present… Read more

Posted in Capacity, Case comments     Tags: litigation capacity     Leave a comment     


Book Review: Rob George: Wards of Court and the Inherent Jurisdiction

Posted on 11 May 2025 Updated on 11 May 2025

Book Review: Rob George, Wards of Court and the Inherent Jurisdiction (Hart, 2024, 293 pp, hardback, £90, ebook £free) I have spent… Read more

Posted in Book Reviews     Tags: Book review     Leave a comment     


Reflections on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill podcast (x2)

Posted on 9 May 2025 Updated on 9 May 2025

With thanks to Rosalind English of the 1 Crown Office Row Law Pod UK podcast for having me on, two… Read more

Posted in Assisted dying / assisted suicide, Webinar     Tags: assisted dying / assisted suicide     Leave a comment     


Cross-border capacity cases within the UK: a new judicial protocol and handbook

Posted on 7 May 2025

A new protocol regulating communications between judges in Scotland, England & Wales, and Northern Ireland has been agreed for cases… Read more

Posted in Legislative developments     Tags: cross-border     Leave a comment     


Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill developments / resources

Posted on 3 May 2025

On 2 May, the impact assessment, equality impact assessment and human rights memorandum promised by the Government to assist Parliament… Read more

Posted in Assisted dying / assisted suicide     Tags: assisted dying / assisted suicide     Leave a comment     


Recent Posts

  • 39 Essex Chambers Mental Capacity Report September 2025 (and walkthrough)

    3 September 2025
    The September 2025 Report is now out. Highlights this month include: (1) In the Health, Welfare and Deprivation of Liberty... …Read More »
  • SCIE sounds the alarm on MCA reform

    27 August 2025
    The Social Care Institute for Excellence is not normally an alarmist body, which makes its recent (26 August 2025) statement... …Read More »
  • “There are more things in heaven and earth that are dreamt of in the philosophy of NHS treatment” – a Court of Protection story

    14 August 2025
    The flipside of the intense focus on the wishes, feelings, beliefs and values of the person required by s.4 MCA... …Read More »
  • When does a Court of Protection order do more harm than good? Anorexia, the Court of Protection, and the ‘impossible burden’

    2 August 2025
    Patricia’s Father & Ors v Patricia & Ors [2025] EWCOP 30 (T3) is a challenging case at a number of... …Read More »
  • Gillick is not a universal test – an important clarification from the Court of Appeal

    30 July 2025
    For years, lawyers and clinicians have thrown around the term ‘Gillick competence’ as if it were a universal test to... …Read More »

RSS National Archives Mental Capacity cases

  • BRO, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department 26 August 2025
  • W, Re: Capacity to Engage in Sexual Relations & Marry 26 August 2025
  • The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v YD & Others (Refusal of Withdrawal of Treatment) 12 August 2025
  • London Borough of X v Mrs Z & Anor 31 July 2025
  • TLA v Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust 29 July 2025
  • G, Re (A Child) 28 July 2025
  • St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v MN 28 July 2025
  • DP v The London Borough of Lambeth 25 July 2025
  • D1914 & Anor, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department 21 July 2025
  • R v Nicholas Prosper 16 July 2025

RSS National Archives Mental Health Act cases

  • ER v NT (Need for fact finding hearing) 27 August 2025
  • BRO, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department 26 August 2025
  • Noel Anthony Clarke v Guardian News and Media Limited 22 August 2025
  • Fatheya Ali, R (on the application of) v HM Assistant Coroner for Inner North London 12 August 2025
  • SA v The Secretary of State for the Home Department 1 August 2025
  • Patricia's Father & Ors v Patricia (by her litigation friend, the Official Solicitor) & Ors 31 July 2025
  • Gwladys Fertré v Vale of White Horse District Council 31 July 2025
  • London Borough of X v Mrs Z & Anor 31 July 2025
  • St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v MN 28 July 2025
  • G, Re (A Child) 28 July 2025

RSS Mental Health Law Online updates

  • Case (Committal proceedings). Torbay Council v Bench [2023] EWCOP 75 (T2)
  • COPUG minutes. COP User Group, 'Meeting (P and A): Minutes and action points' (9 July 2025)
  • Mental capacity law newsletter. 39 Essex Chambers, 'Mental Capacity Report' (issue 153, September 2005)
  • Event. Court of Protection User Group: General meeting (online, 22 October 2025)
  • MHCS update. Ministry of Justice, 'Mental Health Casework Section stakeholder update' (July 2025)
  • Mental capacity law consultation. Law Commission, 'Mentally incapacitated adults and decision-making: A new jurisdiction' (Law Com No 128, 1993)
  • Mental capacity law consultation. Law Commission, 'Mentally Incapacitated Adults and Decision-Making: An Overview' (Law Com No 119, 1991)
  • Event. PELT: Introduction to the MHA, Code and Tribunals (online, 12 November 2025)
  • Event. PELT: Becoming an MHA Administrator - the Basics (online, 20 November 2025)
  • Event. PELT: Introduction to MCA and Deprivation of Liberty (online, 27 November 2025)

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