Examples of the uncertainties in relying upon prospective legislation

Readers will be aware of the inability of certain sections of the media to distinguish between the legal implications of various stages in the development of statutory legislation, from the portrayal of proposals within consultation documents as future legislative requirements, to the frequent misrepresentation of EU legislation and ECHR judgements. However, this can be a problem even to lawyers and this post describes two recent examples, one (legally) trivial and the other more complex, in which invalid assumptions have been made regarding the implications of prospective legislation. Continue reading →