Duke v Reliance [1988] 1 All ER 626

• Respondent was a company that had a policy that people should be sacked once they reach retirement age and Plaintiff sued because she said this was discriminatory.

• The HL said that under English law this was not illegal, due to a provision in Sex Discrimination Act 1975 which allowed such discrimination.

  • The HL denied that it had to construe the act within the meaning of EC directives and that the directives could not distort the meaning of the act.

• This is clearly a very narrow view of the extent to which national courts must interpret their laws in compliance with the EC directives. It also seems to contradict the position in Marleasing.

• Also NB court deciding issue for itself without referral

RELATED CASES

• Marleasing SA v La Comercial Internacional de Alimentacion SA

• C-106/89 Marleasing SA v CIA