CASE SUMMARIES : 24 February 1997

The following notes of judgments were prepared by the reporters of the All England Law Reports.

Forum

N v N; Fam D (Cazalet J) 20 Dec 1996.

The wife, a Swedish national habitually resident in London, successfully applied to set aside the grant of leave to her husband, also a Swedish national, to apply for financial relief under Pt III of the Matrimonial & Family Proceedings Act 1984, in circumstances where no order had been sought or made adjudicating on the parties' financial assets by a foreign court. The principal issue was over the proceeds of sale of a flat in Sweden. The court's leave under s 13 of the Act would not be granted in the absence of a substantial ground, and in determining whether such a ground existed the court was entitled to take into account the criteria under s 16 as to appropriate forum and whether the applicant had shown some hardship or injustice. On the facts, Sweden was the appropriate forum.

Christopher Sharp (Rodney King & Co, Bristol) for the wife; Nigel Dyer (Mishcon de Reya) for the husband.

Licensing

Benson v Boyce; QB Div Ct (Kennedy LJ, Mance J) 20 Jan 1997.

A person driving a vehicle licensed as a private hire vehicle who had no private hire driver's licence was guilty of an offence under s 46(1)(b) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 even though the vehicle was not being used for hire or payment. The Act characterised certain vehicles as private hire vehicles, irrespective of their use at any time, so s 4 6(1)(b) struck at any driving in a controlled area of such a vehicle, whatever it was being used for.

Brian Cummings (HFT Gough & Co, Whitehaven) for the appellant; John Horan (Copeland Borough Council) for the respondent.

Tax

Fawcett (Insp of Taxes) v Special Commissioner & Lancaster Farmers Auction Mart Ltd; CA (Lord Woolf MR, Millett, Potter LJJ) 4 Dec 1996.

Valid notices were issued to a livestock auction business under s 13 of the Taxes Management Act 1970, requiring them to make returns of money received on behalf of vendors. Although the receipts were gross amounts rather than trading profits in the sense of taxable profits after deductions, they nevertheless fell within the meaning of Rmoney or valueS and Rprofits or gainsS in s 13 and the auctioneers were obliged to comply with the notices.

Andrew Park QC, Christopher McCall QC (Inland Revenue); Janek Mat-thews, Julian Ghosh (Oglethorpe Sturton & Gillibrand) for the auctioneers.