UK Supreme Court Judgment On European Communities Act Amending A UK Act Of Parliament

On October 21, 2015, the UK Supreme Court considered the case of United States of America v Nolan. The case gave thought to whether a statutory instrument made under section 2 of the European Communities Act 1972 could effectively be deemed to amend a UK Act of Parliament. It was held that the ECA was wide enough for a statutory instrument to be effective in this way, however the Court found that the question was "difficult and borderline". The EU Financial Collateral Directive was implemented in the UK via the Financial Collateral Regulations 2003, a statutory instrument that was also made under the same section of the ECA. The Directive relates to title transfer financial collateral arrangements and security financial collateral arrangements made between certain classes of qualifying persons. Lord Mance considered previous case law on section 2 of the ECA, and in particular the decision taken in Cukurova Finance International Ltd v HM Treasury which related to...