Manual on Protest Injunctions Practice, Procedure and Persons Unknown

MOPI bookThis is an online book setting out the law on protest injunctions – i.e. when a civil injunction is sought to restrain certain types of protest activity.

Published: July 2023
Format: Paperback
Edition: 2nd
RRP: Free

About Manual on Protest Injunctions

It seeks to do two things:
  1. provide practical know-how to all parties involved in the legal process, an area which can be hard to navigate; and
  2. set out a thorough account of the substantive law by reference to most, if not all, of the reported cases on protest injunctions over the last few years.This book deals specifically with proceedings started in the High Court.

The law on this area has evolved rapidly. By way of example:

  • On the issue of Persons Unknown in protest injunctions, the Court of Appeal has dealt with the issue (including making complete u-turns) in Ineos Upstream v Persons Unknown [2019] 4 WLR 100, Canada Goose UK Retail Ltd v Persons  Unknown [2020] 1 WLR 2802 and Barking & Dagenham LBC v Persons Unknown [2022] 2 WLR 946 (CA).
  • On human rights, there have been several important decisions on how to balance the rights of those carrying out disruptive protest against the rights of those being disrupted: see DPP v Ziegler [2022] AC 408 (SC), DPP v Cuciurean [2022] 3 WLR 446 (DC) and Attorney General’s Reference (No. 1 of 2022) [2022] EWCA Crim 1259.
  • On committal applications, several cases have tested the courts’ resolve on what factors to consider and when to impose custodial sentences on protestors: see Cuadrilla Bowland v Persons Unknown  [2020] 4 WLR 29 (CA), National  Highways v Heyatawin [2021] EWHC 3078 (KB), §49(d) (Dame Victoria Sharp P and Chamberlain J) and Cuciurean v Secretary of State for Transport [2021] EWCA Civ 357.

These are just some of the issues discussed.

Table Of Contents

CAUSES OF ACTION AND RELIEF
Causes of action
Relief
BEFORE BRINGING THE CLAIM
Pre-action process
Part 7 or 8 claim
Which High Court Division
URGENCY AND NOTICE
Standard rules and exceptions
Levels of urgency
Short and informal notice
Section 12(2) of the Human Rights Act 1998
Obligations on Claimant at without notice hearing
SERVICE
Serving the claim
Serving the Order
Serving other documents
INTERIM INJUNCTIONS
American Cyanamid test
Section 12(3) of the Human Rights Act 1998
Precautionary (quia timet) injunctions
Renewing an interim injunction
Obligations on the Claimant
FINAL INJUNCTIONS
Summary Judgment
Default Judgment
Trial
PERSONS UNKNOWN AND INTERESTED PERSONS
When Persons Unknown can be a Defendant
How to define Persons Unknown
How to identify Persons Unknown
Consequences of identifying Persons Unknown
Interested Persons
HUMAN RIGHTS
The rights in play
Private land
Public land
SCOPE OF INJUNCTION
Terms must correspond to threatened tort
Terms must be sufficiently clear and precise
Clear geographical limits
Clear temporal limits
CONTEMPT
Nature of contempt proceedings
Pre-action process
Procedure – CPR Part 81
Knowledge requirement
Defences
Undertakings
Factual findings
Sanctions
Costs
Appeals
Guidelines from Court
Index of Cases

About Author/Editor(s)/ Contributor(s)

Yaaser Vanderman

Yaaser Vanderman is a barrister at Landmark Chambers specialising in various areas of law, including public law, human rights, planning law and property law. In addition, he is called to the Bar of Northern Ireland and is on the Attorney General’s B Panel of Counsel. He regularly appears in the High Court and Court of Appeal, and has been instructed in 8 cases before the Supreme Court since 2019. Yaaser Vanderman first worked on protest issues as an LLM student at Harvard Law School in the Human Rights Clinic. The law of protest injunctions is now at the confluence of his practice areas. Yaaser has been instructed in approximately 20 hearings in protest injunctions since 2022. He has been involved in many more such cases over the last few years and has also advised extensively on these issues, including in relation to claims brought by:

  • Local authorities
  • NHS trusts
  • Universities
  • Park authorities
  • Security companies
  • Energy companies

More widely, he has been involved in some of the most important recent protest cases, including the Sarah Everard vigil ban during the COVID-19 lockdown and the Supreme Court reference on anti-protest zones outside abortion clinics.

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