WLR 848 para 16 as followed in Stuart v Goldberg [2008] 1 WLR 823 para 81 per Sir Anthony Clarke MR, as now corrected by Lord Wilson in Re B at para. 44. On this, to my mind, orthodox approach I agree with Underhill LJ that HHJ Richardson in the EAT was entitled to reverse the tribunal on the basis that it failed to give weight to the five factors identified in para 24 of my Lord’s judgment and that, if it had done, the answer would have been that the connection between Mr Jeffery’s employment and Great Britain was indeed sufficiently strong for it to be appropriate that Mr Jeffery should have a claim for unfair dismissal. The fact that the EAT is itself a specialist tribunal makes it all the more difficult for Mr Laddie to establish that the EAT decision was wrong. Lord Justice Jackson: I also with Underhill LJ’s disposition of both appeals and, subject to what appears below, with his reasoning. Concerning the distinction between matters of law and fact, I share the difficulty articulated by my lords as to how the dicta in and are to be reconciled. Lawson Ravat In agreement with Longmore LJ, I would rest on the conclusion that a decision whether a case falls within the territorial scope of section 94(1) of the 1999 Act is, as stated by Lord Hoffman in an evaluation of facts, but that the evaluation Lawson, itself should be treated as a matter of law. The formulation by Lord Hope in Ravat does not in my view chart a clear departure from this approach. The correctness or otherwise of this conclusion has no effect on the outcome of appeals nor, I believe, on the law generally. Whether an appeal tribunal is undertaking a relatively generous rationality review (favoured by Underhill LJ) or a relatively restrained substantive review (preferred by Longmore LJ and myself), the practical outcome is the same, namely that an appeal tribunal should be slow to interfere with an evaluative judgment of a first instance tribunal in a matter of this kind and should not do so unless it is satisfied that the judgment is wrong.
WLR 848 para 16 as followed in Stuart v Goldberg [2008] 1 WLR 823 para 81 per Sir Anthony Clarke MR, as now corrected by Lord Wilson in Re B at para. 44. On this, to my mind, orthodox approach I agree with Underhill LJ that HHJ Richardson in the EAT was entitled to reverse the tribunal on the basis that it failed to give weight to the five factors identified in para 24 of my Lord’s judgment and that, if it had done, the answer would have been that the connection between Mr Jeffery’s employment and Great Britain was indeed sufficiently strong for it to be appropriate that Mr Jeffery should have a claim for unfair dismissal. The fact that the EAT is itself a specialist tribunal makes it all the more difficult for Mr Laddie to establish that the EAT decision was wrong. Lord Justice Jackson: I also with Underhill LJ’s disposition of both appeals and, subject to what appears below, with his reasoning. Concerning the distinction between matters of law and fact, I share the difficulty articulated by my lords as to how the dicta in Lawson and Ravat are to be reconciled. In agreement with Longmore LJ, I would rest on the conclusion that a decision whether a case falls within the territorial scope of section 94(1) of the 1999 Act is, as stated by Lord Hoffman in Lawson, an evaluation of facts, but that the evaluation itself should be treated as a matter of law. The formulation by Lord Hope in Ravat does not in my view chart a clear departure from this approach. The correctness or otherwise of this conclusion has no effect on the outcome of appeals nor, I believe, on the law generally. Whether an appeal tribunal is undertaking a relatively generous rationality review (favoured by Underhill LJ) or a relatively restrained substantive review (preferred by Longmore LJ and myself), the practical outcome is the same, namely that an appeal tribunal should be slow to interfere with an evaluative judgment of a first instance tribunal in a matter of this kind and should not do so unless it is satisfied that the judgment is wrong.
Jeffery_for_hand_down.docx