Eastside Cheese Company (A Firm) & Anor, R (on the application of) v Secretary Of State For Health, Court of Appeal - Civil Division, July 01, 1999, [1999] EuLR 968,[1999] Eu LR 968,(2000) 2 LGLR 41,[1999] EWCA Civ 1739,[1999] COD 321,[1999] 3 CMLR 123,(2000) 55 BMLR 38,[2000] EHLR 52

Reporting Judge: [1999] EuLR 968,[1999] Eu LR 968,(2000) 2 LGLR 41,[1999] EWCA Civ 1739,[1999] COD 321,[1999] 3 CMLR 123,(2000) 55 BMLR 38,[2000] EHLR 52

President: Eastside Cheese Company (A Firm) & Anor, R (on the application of) v Secretary Of State For Health

Linked as:

Extract

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE QBCOF 1999/0177/4

COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)

ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION

CROWN OFFICE LIST

(MR JUSTICE MOSES)

Royal Courts of Justice

The Strand

London

Thursday 1 July 1999

B e f o r e:

THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND AND WALES

(Lord Bingham of Cornhill)

LORD JUSTICE OTTON

and

LORD JUSTICE ROBERT WALKER

B E T W E E N:

THE QUEEN

and

SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH

Ex parte EASTSIDE CHEESE COMPANY (a firm)

and

R A DUCKETT & CO

Interested Party

____________________

J U D G M E N T

(As Approved by the Court)

____________________

_______________

(Computer Aided Transcription by

Smith Bernal, 180 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2HD

Telephone 0171 421 4040

Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)

_______________

A P P E A R A N C E S:

MR PHILIP HAVERS QC and MR NEIL GARNHAM (instructed by the Office of

the Solicitor, Department of Health, London 2A 2LS) appeared on behalf

of THE APPELLANT/RESPONDENT

MR DAVID FOSKETT QC and MR RICHARD BOOTH (instructed by Messrs Laurie

Moran Arthur, London SW19 5DQ) appeared on behalf

of THE RESPONDENT/APPLICANT

MR GERALD BARLING QC and MR HUGH MERCER (instructed by Messrs Clarke

Wilmott & Clarke, Somerset BA20 1EP) appeared on behalf

of THE INTERESTED PARTY

__________________________

Thursday 1 July 1999

THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE: On 20 May 1998 the Secretary of State for Health made an emergency control order under section 13 of the Food Safety Act 1990. The text of that order was amended by a further order under the same section made on the following day. It is convenient to treat these as a single order in the amended form. The effect of the order was to prohibit the carrying out of any commercial operation in relation to cheese originating from R A Duckett and Co. Limited of Walnut Tree Farm, Wedmore, Somerset. On 10 July 1998, the order was again varied: the prohibition was not to apply to any cheese manufactured on or after 11 July.

So long as the order remained fully in force it paralysed the cheese-making business which Ducketts carried on, and had carried on with notable distinction for several generations. The order also paralysed the business of cheese processors and maturers to the extent that they depended on supplies of cheese obtained from Ducketts. Such a business was that of the Eastside Cheese Company, a firm in Godstone, Surrey, in which Mr James Aldridge, a well-known and respected figure in the cheese-making world, is the leading cheesemaker.

Eastside obtained leave to seek judicial review of the emergency control order made by the secretary of state and were supported by Ducketts as an interested party. A number of different grounds were advanced. In a long and careful judgment delivered on 13 November 1998, Moses J dismissed most of the grounds relied on by Eastside and Ducketts but he upheld one ground of challenge and on that ground held the emergency control order as amended to be unlawful. The secretary of state appeals, contending that the judge was wrong to find the order unlawful on that ground. Eastside and Ducketts for their part contend that the judge should have found in favour of Eastside on some of the grounds which he dismissed as well as that which he upheld, and they ...

See the full content of this document