Background In Ghaoui v London Borough of Waltham Forest [2024] EWCA Civ 405, Mr Ghaoui, his wife and two young children lived in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. They were rendered homeless in April 2019 and Mr Ghaoui applied to the local authority for assistance with accommodation. In September 2019, he sent his older child to a fee-paying Muslim nursery in Waltham Forest [2]. The family was evicted in March 2020 and Waltham Forest LBC provided temporary accommodation in the Harlow area, some 20 miles from their previous address, which made it harder for the parents to get to work in Lon ..read more

Review of the ecclesiastical court judgments during April 2024 The thirteen consistory court judgments circulated in April included: Reordering, extensions and other building works  Exhumation Churchyards and burials Organs Fonts Also included are: CDM Decisions and Safeguarding; Reports from the Independent Reviewer; Privy Council Business; Other legal issues; CFCE Determinations; and Links to other posts relating to ecclesiastical law. Reordering, extensions and other building works Other building works, including re-roofing Re St. Ia the Virgin St. Ives ..read more

A Happy “Ed Balls Day” to our readers Whilst not featuring in the Church’s Liturgical Calendar, Ed Balls Day serves as a reminder to users of Twitter/X (by whatever name called) of the perils faced by internet users, for which the “Liking” of a Tweet may lead to a CDM Tribunal.  Sikh tribunal opens in London The Times reports that a group of Sikh lawyers have opened a Sikh forum for alternative dispute resolution, with the aim of providing a mechanism for dealing sensitively with civil and family matters within the Sikh community. Sikhism does not have its own legal code; and Baldip Singh ..read more

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York and Bishop of Southwark have joined with leaders of the Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist and United Reformed Churches in England and issued a joint statement; the Church’s Press Release is reproduced below. After Rwanda: Church leaders speak out over hostility to refugees 23/04/2024 Kindness of churches and charities to those fleeing war, persecution and violence has been ‘unjustly maligned by some for political reasons’ The Archbishops of Canterbury and York and Bishop of Southwark have joined with leaders of other churches in England to renew their co ..read more

In a guest post, Russell Sandberg is critical of the recent judgment in Michaela School… The media reports of the last few months highlight how controversial and charged the decision in R (on the Application of TTT) v Michaela School [2024] EWHC 843 (Admin) is. There is much to unpack and debate about the High Court’s 83-page judgment, not least how the secular approach held to be lawful in the judgment sits with a legal framework that continues to favour Christianity in terms of laws on collective worship and the teaching of religion in school. Frank Cranmer’s case note on the decision superb ..read more

In Re St. Mary Stalbridge [2024] EC Sal 1, Willink Dep. Ch. set out the circumstances in which an oil-fired boiler was installed in the church without a faculty; explained his decision to grant a confirmatory faculty; and the conditions under which this was granted. In the same judgment, the Deputy Chancellor gave directions requiring the provision of further evidence on the circumstances in which the boiler was unlawfully installed. Those directions are included as an annex to the subsequent judgment Re St. Mary Stalbridge [2024] EC Sal 2 which considers how the illegal act occurred ..read more

The Civil Tribunal of Lorient ruled on 3 April that the exclaustration imposed on Sabine de la Valette, formerly Mother Marie Ferréol, from the Congregation of Dominicans of the Holy Spirit signed by Cardinal Ouellet in 2020, at the time Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, had amounted to her wrongful dismissal. During the hearing on 4 October 2023, the President of Lorient’s First Civil Chamber noted that the letter from Cardinal Marc Ouellet given to the nun during her exclusion had accused her of “systematic criticism, a partisan spirit, public demonstrations of resistance or disagreement ..read more

Background In Allouche v France [2024] ECHR 305 [in French], Ms Allouche met B, a bartender, in a café near her workplace, an association working to remember the victims of the Holocaust. They evidently struck up some kind of rapport, but after she declined B’s invitations to a date he sent her 26 e-mails expressing his disappointment and containing insults, threats of violence, rape and death, some accompanied by antisemitic remarks. His last e-mail included a photograph of Hitler [4-6]. She filed a complaint about the death threats and antisemitic insults. The police drew up an initial repor ..read more

The ECtHR and climate change The Grand Chamber’s ruling in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v Switzerland [2024] ECHR 304, handed down on Tuesday, seems to have caused a (predictable) storm – and though nothing to do with “religion” specifically, it’s potentially very important in the wider area of human rights law. In brief, the applicants argued that the Swiss authorities had been insufficiently diligent in the area of climate‑change mitigation and that their demographic group – elderly females – was particularly vulnerable to climate-induced heatwaves; they relied on Articles ..read more

The Church of England has issued the following Press Release on the appointment process for the Bishop of Blackburn. Independent reviewer upholds appointment process for Bishop of Blackburn 11/04/2024 A report by the Independent Reviewer Canon Maggie Swinson on the process leading to the nomination of the Bishop of Blackburn, Philip North, following concerns by the group Women And The Church (WATCH) has been published. Canon Swinson concludes that the process of consultation and nomination, during 2022, was in line with the regulations but recommends some changes to the rules for futu ..read more