A new species of ‘without notice’ injunction

• In Wolverhampton City Council v London Gypsies and Travellers & Ors [2023] UKSC 47, the Supreme Court confirmed the existence of the equitable power to grant injunctions binding newcomers as a species of ‘without notice’ injunction.
• Such injunctions will remain an exceptional remedy. While the court gave general guidance as to when such orders will be appropriate, it remains to be seen how this will be applied in the lower courts.

Picture the scene: a well-known business becomes the target of protesters because of its associations with, say, the oil industry. Those protests become unruly and give rise to acts of trespass, nuisance and harassment. An injunction is sought (and obtained) restraining persons unknown from persisting with such acts. Can that injunction bind ‘newcomers’, as yet a formless mass, who later decide to join the protest?

This was the question of principle considered by the Supreme Court in Wolverhampton City