A judgment of words and numbers

The government’s bill allowing for it to trigger Article 50 had but two clauses and 137 words (this article has three times as many) yet in many quarters was criticised for its brevity. A similar minimalistic approach by the Court of Appeal has in contrast brought almost universal enthusiasm.

The case in question BS (Congo) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWCA Civ 53 concerned an African immigrant and whether or not he should be deported from the UK. The court dismissed the government’s appeal and ruled that he could not be removed from the country despite being convicted of a criminal activity.

Of greater interest was the fact that the 'short judgment' by Lady Justice Rafferty was merely 24 paragraphs long and ran to fewer than 1 200 words. She confirmed that:

'This is a short form judgment which with the encouragement of Sir Terence Etherton MR judges of the Court of Appeal may in future use for appellate decisions in appropriate cases. This appeal raises no issue of law precedent or other matters of general significance and the relevant facts...

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