It is widely accepted that the British intelligence dossier of September 2002 claiming that Iraq possessed “weapons of mass destruction” (WMD) which could be deployed “within 45 minutes” was critical to the British Government’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003. Given that no such weapons have materialized despite careful, comprehensive and labour-intensive searching, the dossier is now seen by many as a self-serving attempt by the Blair administration to “spin” the country into war.

THE law which governs decision-making by the shareholders (or, strictly speaking, members) of a company is an area in which there is a great emphasis on regulation. This emphasis has tended to obscure the basic principles of law around which that regulation has developed. It has also distracted attention away from an appreciation of how those principles are applied and developed in practice.

THERE can be little doubt that the spectre of false rape allegations has significantly influenced the development of legal doctrine and its enforcement. The fear of false allegations has been used to justify evidential rules in cases involving sexual offences such as the corroboration warning, the retention of the marital rape immunity and continues to influence police and prosecutorial decision-making.