Legal Skills Exercise: Duport Steels Ltd and Others v Sirs and Others [1980] 1 W.L.R. 142

Instructions for the Exercise

Suggested word limit for this exercise: 500 words

Using the Westlaw UK online database available from the Library homepage,   undertake a research exercise for the case of

Duport Steels Ltd and Others v Sirs and Others [1980] 1 W.L.R. 142 

1.Name the judges hearing the case in the House of Lords.

2.Provide the date of the judgment in the Court of Appeal.

3.Provide the names of the barristers and solicitors representing the plaintiffs and defendants.

4.What is the protasis and the apodosis of section 13 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Acts 1974 and 1976?

5.What is the main legal authority that Kenneth Jones J. bases his opinion on?

6.Give at least two reasons why Lord Denning allowed the appeal?

7.What is the meaning of the test in section 13 being purely subjective according to Lord Diplock?

8.What is Lord Diplock’s view of the test? How does he justify this view?

9.What is the role of the judiciary in the UK constitution according to Lord Diplock? How does it play out in this particular case?

10.What are the only questions a judge may pose in his role as interpreter of s. 13(1) of the 1974 and 1976 Acts?

Suggested word limit for this exercise: 1000 words

Using the Westlaw UK online database available from the Library homepage find and read an article by Patrick O’Brien entitled ‘Enemies of the people: judges, the media, and the mythic Lord Chancellor’. Then, proceed with the following tasks:

1. Summarise the House of Lords’ judgment in the Duport Steels case, the main legal issues and the court’s reasoning.

2. Summarise the article by Patrick O’Brien and explain the main points of the author’s views.

Suggested word limit for this exercise: 1500 words

In the light of the Duport Steels case and Patrick O’Brien’s article from the exercises above, discuss the role of the courts in the UK constitution.
Your answer should be written as an essay.

It should be written in Arial font at 12 point and use single spacing.

This is a skills exercise and must incorporate the following in support of your argument:

1. One quotation incorporated into the essay from Sharon Hanson, Learning Legal Skills and Reasoning (4th edn, Routledge 2015) complying with the OSCOLA referencing system. 

2. Two references to different academic texts complying with the OSCOLA referencing system.

3. Two references to different cases, which should be referenced using the OSCOLA referencing system.

4. A bibliography complying with the OSCOLA referencing system.