September 30, 2025
Lumba v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] UKSC 12
Foreign prisoners were detained pending deportation under an unpublished, secret policy. The Supreme Court ruled this constituted false imprisonment. However, because they would have been detained anyway under a lawful policy, they were only entitled to nominal, not substantial, damages for the tort. Facts The appellants, Mr Lumba and Mr Mighty, were foreign nationals who had completed criminal sentences in the UK and were subject to deportation orders. The Secretary of State for the Home Department had the power to detain them pending deportation. The published policy regarding such detention, based on the principles established in R v Governor of
