Archive for October, 2015

In an important decision which illustrated the extent to which English judges can aid foreign courts in the gathering of evidence, the High Court opened the way for a sample of blood taken from a deceased billionaire to be shipped to Russia. The Georgian businessman was staying in a London hotel when he died following heart surgery. Samples of his blood and other tissues were retained in a university’s toxicology department at the behest of a coroner. His widow was engaged in an inheritance dispute in Russia with a woman who claimed to be his daughter. The latter’s paternity was the central issue in that litigation. In those circumstances, the alleged daughter asked the Court to authorise release of a blood sample so that it could be sent to Moscow for DNA analysis. In granting that application, the Court found that ... Read more