Conceptions of Public Policy
Year: 1991
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Section 24 of the Social Security Act 1975 provided that, if a woman was under pensionable age when her husband died and he had made sufficient national insurance contributions, ‘[a] woman who has been widowed shall be entitled to a widow’s allowance at the weekly rate specified in relation thereto in Schedule 4, Part I, paragraph 5 …’ Along came Mrs Connor, who satisfied the age requirement and her husband had satisfied the contribution requirements. Yes, he was dead and she was a widow, so could she please have the widow’s allowance? One snag, a jury at Leeds Crown Court had found her guilty of the manslaughter of her husband, in that the cause of his death was a wound made by a knife which Mrs Connor was wielding. The Divisional Court in R. v. National Insurance Commr., ex. p. Connor2 had no difficulty in refusing Mrs Connor her widow’s allowance on the ground that ‘public policy demands the court to drive the applicant from the seat of justice’
Author: John Bell
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4388547571