John Lofthouse

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Overview

John Lofthouse is experienced in both civil law, including constitutional and public law, and criminal law.

He is Junior Counsel to the Treasury in Peerage and Baronetcy matters.

Civil matters undertaken by John Lofthouse have included constitutional law (in which he has experience as Treasury Counsel), judicial review, inquests, employment, landlord and tenant, and probate, as well as general common law cases. He has been involved in cases involving Royal Wills, an MEP’s privileges and immunities, the effect of EU law in employment matters, and a question concerning Scottish baronies and English insolvency law. Some reported cases are listed below.

John Lofthouse has been involved in a wide range of criminal cases, including murder and manslaughter, misconduct in public office, child abduction, serious sexual offences, criminal cases involving civil concepts (such as attempted theft from a residuary estate, analysis of notional bank interest, intellectual property and trades descriptions, gross negligence manslaughter, and the impact of employment law on the admissibility of in-house interviews), the law relating to drones and horse race betting, and the post-Brexit changes to the law of extradition between the United Kingdom and the European Union. He has acted in cases involving human rights, and abuse of process. Some reported cases are listed below.

Civil

v. Mid Sussex Citizens’ Advice Bureau and another [2013] 1 All ER 1038, in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom: appeal involving European Union law: whether a volunteer could be protected under disability discrimination legislation, particularly under the EU Treaty and Framework Directive.
Shafi v. H.M. Senior Coroner for East London [2016] 1 WLR 640: successful application to the High Court for a fresh inquest concerning the death in custody in Dubai of a British citizen, appearing for the Family of the citizen who had died. The case involved important points of law as to inquests, and obtaining the fiat of the Solicitor General in order to bring the proceedings. Later, in 2022, he appeared for the Family in the fresh inquest, in which the jury returned a detailed narrative conclusion, with a finding of neglect by Dubai Police authorities in the police station involved.
Brown v. Executors of the Estates of H.M. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and H.R.H. The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon [2008] 1 WLR 2327 (CA) and [2007] WTLR 1129 (Fam. D.): appeared for the Attorney General on application by an applicant to inspect Wills of Members of the Royal Family (alone in the High Court, led in the Court of Appeal).
Mote v. European Parliament [2009] 1 CMLR 16: appeared for an MEP in the Court of First Instance of the European Union in Luxembourg in challenge to European Parliament’s decision on United Kingdom Government’s application for waiver of the MEP’s immunity.
Lord Mayhew of Twysden’s Motion (1999) [2002] 1 AC 109 – challenge in Parliament, before the Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords, to the effectiveness of proposed legislation concerning membership of the House.
Barony of Farnham HL Paper 85-I (session 1994-5): case before the Committee for Privileges of the House of Lords about the effect on the Irish Representative Peerage of the Treaty and constitutional legislation of 1920 to 1922; appeared for the Crown, led by the Attorney General.

Criminal law

(Gibson) v. Crown Court at Winchester [2004] 1 WLR 1623 and R. v. Winchester Crown Court, ex parte Forbes (heard and reported with R. v. Manchester Crown Court, ex parte McDonald) [1999] 1 WLR 841: acted for the defence in the Divisional Court in two of the leading cases on custody time limits.
v. A.P. [2008] 1 Cr.App.R. 39 (Court of Appeal): appeared for the Crown in one of two cases in the Court of Appeal about the compatibility of part of the confiscation legislation with Article 1 of Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights.
v. M. [2002] 1 WLR 824: appeared for the Crown in the Court of Appeal in a case on the compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights of the provisions for finding facts in criminal cases when the defendant has been found unfit to plead.

M.A. (Oxon).
Passed the New York State Bar examinations.

In 2014 the Criminal Bar Association of England and Wales conferred upon him honorary membership of the Association.
Sometime Associate Lecturer, Oxford Institute of Legal Practice.