Just this week, the English High Court ordered six of the country's Internet service providers to block access to the Swedish site The Pirate Bay on the grounds that it induced its users to infringe copyright.

WSJ: Is the U.K.'s Love Affair With the Internet at Risk?

But in December 2011 the High Court upheld the requirement that a foreign spouse learn basic English before joining his better half.

ECONOMIST: Bit by bit, Britain is closing its borders to immigrants

The council, English Heritage, the National Trust and residents took the case to the High Court, believing that if the developers built the wind farm it could have had implications for other national heritage sites.

BBC: Barnwell Manor wind farm: Conservationists win legal bid