R v Coventry Airport, ex parte Phoenix Aviation ; R v Dover Harbour Board, ex parte Peter Gilder and Sons ; R v Associated British Ports, ex parte Plymouth City Council

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date12 April 1995
Date12 April 1995
CourtQueen's Bench Division

Queen's Bench Divisional Court

Before Lord Justice Simon Brown and Mr Justice Popplewell

Regina
and
Coventry Airport, Ex parte Phoenix Aviation Regina v Dover Harbour Board, Ex parte Peter Gilder and Sons Regina v Associated British Ports, Ex parte Plymouth City Council

Harbours and docks - discretion to refuse trade - livestock exports

Port authorities have no discretion to exclude live calf trade

Coventry Airport, Dover Harbour Board and Millbay Docks, Plymouth had no general discretion under their respective statutory regimes to distinguish between different lawful trades; and even if they had they could not properly exercise it to ban the livestock trade on grounds that it was generating unlawful disruption.

The Queen's Bench Divisional Court so held in granting applications by Phoenix Aviation and Peter Gilder & Sons for judicial review of the refusal by Coventry Airport and Dover Harbour Board, respectively, to handle the shipping of livestock intended for slaughter; and in dismissing an application by Plymouth City Council for judicial review of a decision by Associated British Ports that it had no discretion to ban such livestock trade through Millbay Docks, Plymouth.

Lord Kingsland, QC and Ms Karen McHugh for Phoenix Aviation; Mr Stuart Isaacs, QC, Mr Clive Lewis and Mr Paul Brown for Coventry City Council.

Mr David Pannick, QC and Mr David Anderson for Dover Harbour Board; Mr David Vaughan, QC, Mr David Lloyd-Jones and Mr Philip Moser for Peter Gilder & Sons.

Mr Richard Gordon, QC and Mr Nicholas Green for Plymouth City Council; Mr Richard Field, QC, Mr Nigel Giffin and Mr Nigel Porter for ABP.

Mr Charles Haddon-Cave for the National Farmers Union; Mr Nigel Plender, QC and Mr Peter Duffy for Compassion in World Farming (CWF); Mr Hockman, QC, for the Chief Constable of Kent, interveners.

LORD JUSTICE SIMON BROWN, giving the judgment of the court, said that the export of live animals for slaughter was lawful but many thought it immoral. They objected in particular to the shipment of live calves for rearing in veal crates, a practice banned in this country since 1990.

The result was that for some months past the trade had attracted widespread concern and a great deal of highly publicised protest. Some of that protest was lawful, some alas was not.

It was the actual and threatened unlawful activity of animal rights protesters which underlay the instant applications. It was fear of unlawful disruption which had prompted Coventry and...

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20 cases
  • R v Chief Constable of Sussex, ex parte International Trader's Ferry Ltd (pet. all.)
    • United Kingdom
    • House of Lords
    • 11 November 1998
    ...a week. They asked in the light of the judgment of the Divisional Court in Reg. v. Coventry City Council, Ex parte Phoenix Aviation [1995] 3 All E.R. 37 that the decision be not implemented before 9 May so that discussions could take place. The police and I.T.F. did meet on 20 April. It wa......
  • R (Corner House Research and Another) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office
    • United Kingdom
    • House of Lords
    • 30 July 2008
    ...of the courts, not the executive (para 60). The decisions of the Court of Appeal in R v Coventry City Council, Ex p Phoenix Aviation [1995] 3 All ER 37 and R v Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall, Ex p Central Electricity Generating Board [1982] QB 458 were cited. Reference was made to ......
  • R Frack Free Balcombe Residents Association v West Sussex County Council
    • United Kingdom
    • Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court)
    • 5 December 2014
    ...of such protests, acting unlawfully. He referred the Court to R(Phoenix Aviation) v Coventry Airport and others [1995] EWHC 1 (Admin) [1995] 3 All ER 37 [1995]. 121 A "local finance consideration" is defined in s 70(4) TCPA 1990 (as amended) as " (a) a grant or other financial assistance th......
  • R v Chief Constable of Sussex, ex parte International Traders' Ferry Ltd
    • United Kingdom
    • Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court)
    • 26 July 1995
    ...and Popplewell, J.) handed down its judgment in R. v. Coventry City Council, ex parte Phoenix Aviation and others, now reported at [1995] 3 All E.R. 37. Those three cases concerned the question whether public authorities operating air and sea ports were entitled to ban the flights or shipm......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
4 books & journal articles
  • Police Discretion and the Rule of Law: Economic Community Rights versus Civil Rights
    • United Kingdom
    • The Modern Law Review No. 63-4, July 2000
    • 1 July 2000
    ...RvCoventry City Council, ex p Phoenix Aviation,RvDover Harbour Board, ex p Gilder & Sons andRvAssociated British Ports, ex p Plymouth [1995] 3 All ER 37. Simon Brown LJ referred to the‘awesome implications for the rule of law’ of the City Council’s proposed ban (at 62) and to the ‘thread[wh......
  • Wrongfooting the Lord Chancellor: Access to Justice in the High Court
    • United Kingdom
    • The Modern Law Review No. 61-2, March 1998
    • 1 March 1998
    ...with his convenient legally-aided judicial review claim? There is no doubt that38 RvCoventry Airport, ex parte Phoenix Aviation [1995] 3 All ER 37 DC.39 RvMinistry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food, ex parte Hedley Lomas (Ireland) Ltd [1996] 3 WLR787 ECJ.40 RvHome Secretary, ex parte Venabl......
  • Public Law and Popular Justice
    • United Kingdom
    • The Modern Law Review No. 65-1, January 2002
    • 1 January 2002
    ...196–8.40 Practice Note (citation of cases: restrictions and rules) [2001] 2 All ER 510.41 RvCoventry City Council ex p Phoenix Aviation [1995] 3 All ER 37.42 CPR, Part 54, Rule 54.17 and CPR, Rule 19.7. The rubric would cover the class of potential claimantsfor welfare benefit in RvSecretar......
  • House of Lords
    • United Kingdom
    • Journal of Criminal Law, The No. 63-3, June 1999
    • 1 June 1999
    ...[1968] 2 QB 118. The cases tothecontraryareepitomised inthejudgmentof SimonBrownLJ in RvCoventryCityCouncil,ex pPhoenix Aviation [1995] 3 All ER 37 at 62that'publicauthoritiesmustbeware ofsurrenderingto pressure groups'. In con-demningauthorities which gavewayto unlawful threats'withoutthel......

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