The magistrates' court had the jurisdiction to rule on a point of law as a preliminary issue in relation to which it did not have to find facts. Questions were referred to the European Court of Justice about whether sewage that escaped from a sewerage network maintained by a statutory sewerage undertaker pursuant to the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 91/272/EEC or the Water Industry Act 1991 or both amounted to "directive waste" for the purposes of Council Directive 75/442 (as amended by Directive 91/156/EEC).

[2005] EWHC 1231 (Admin)