This chapter examines the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) and discusses some of the important issues that arise from its use. It also provides an overview of relevant Articles in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The HRA 1998 is quite a short Act and its key parts are in a small number of sections. Perhaps the most important is that of s 6 which places an obligation on public authorities to act in a way compatible with the ECHR as well as s 7 which prescribes how it can be used to obtain a remedy in the courts. This chapter also links to the previous chapters in terms of discussing how the Act is interpreted.
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5. Human Rights Act 1998
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5. Duty of care IV: public authorities
This chapter considers the liability in negligence of public authorities such as government departments and schools. It commences by examining typical features of public authorities, including their statutory and public dimensions. It then considers the tests that courts have used to determine whether they can claim jurisdiction to hear cases involving public authorities—ie, the issue of justiciability. If the court can exercise jurisdiction, then the next issue that arises is the application of the Caparo Industries v Dickman three-stage framework for duty which, in cases of public authorities, requires paying special attention to policy reasons for either recognising or excluding duties of care.
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20. Liability of Public Authorities
Sir William Wade, Christopher Forsyth, and Julian Ghosh
This chapter discusses the liability of public authorities. Topics covered include categories of liability; liability for breach of human rights; liability for the tort of negligence; strict liability; breach of statutory duty; misfeasance in public office; statement of general principles of liability; immunities and time limits for actions in tort; liability in contract; liability to make restitution; and liability to pay compensation where there has been no tort or breach of contract.
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3. The Central Government
Sir William Wade, Christopher Forsyth, and Julian Ghosh
This chapter describes the various public authorities and their legal status. These include the Crown and ministers; the civil service and the law of Crown service; some governmental functions of more importance to administrative law; and the filing and investigation of complaints against the government.
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7. Incapacity
Jack Beatson, Andrew Burrows, and John Cartwright
This chapter discusses the grounds of contractual incapacity. It considers contracts made with the Crown and public authorities; corporations and incorporated associations; minors; and persons lacking mental capacity and drunken persons.
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4. The Human Rights Act 1998
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, diagram answer plans, caution advice, suggested answers, illustrative diagrams and flowcharts, and advice on gaining extra marks. Concentrate Q&A Human Rights & Civil Liberties offers expert advice on what to expect from your human rights and civil liberties exam, how best to prepare, and guidance on what examiners are really looking for. Written by experienced examiners, it provides: clear commentary with each question and answer; bullet point and diagram answer plans; tips to make your answer really stand out from the crowd; and further reading suggestions at the end of every chapter. The book should help you to: identify typical law exam questions; structure a first-class answer; avoid common mistakes; show the examiner what you know; all making your answer stand out from the crowd. This chapter covers the Human Rights Act 1998, including its central provisions, its impact on the protection of human rights in the UK, and its potential repeal.
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13. Justice in the Modern Administrative State
Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. This chapter discusses the role of a range of accountability methods to scrutinize the executive’s use of power. This includes the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, who is now also known as the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the role of tribunals in contrast to courts, of public inquiries and of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms too. It also examines the limitations of each of these methods, and how they may complement each other to provide different forms of scrutiny.
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15. The Parties to a Judicial Review: Who Can Make a Claim for Judicial Review and Against Whom Can a Claim for Judicial Review Be Made?
Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. This chapter discusses the bodies subject to judicial review and who can make claims for judicial review. An action for judicial review can be brought only against a body exercising a public function. If public authorities are carrying out a private function, they are not subject to judicial review, unless there is a public law element. Private bodies are, generally, not subject to judicial review unless it can be shown that they are carrying out a public function, such as administering a statutory scheme. If the judicial review concerns human rights, then the claim must be brought against a public authority. The Human Rights Act 1998 creates two kinds of public authorities: core public authorities and functional public authorities. Core public authorities are public authorities, such as government departments and the police force. Functional public authorities have private and public functions, but only their public functions are subject to the Act. The rules of standing in judicial review cases determine whether individuals or groups are permitted to challenge a decision of a public body. An individual or organization may bring a claim for judicial review only with the permission of the courts, which means that standing restricts the people and organizations that may bring a judicial review claim.
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17. Irrationality and Proportionality
Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. This chapter, which discusses the circumstances for judicial review of a public authority’s decision on the grounds that it is irrational, first explains the history of irrationality and ‘Wednesbury unreasonableness’, to provide some background to the topic and to chart its development. It then considers cases in which the courts have discussed different versions of the irrationality test, discusses the difference between irrationality and proportionality, and examines the development of proportionality and its use in judicial review cases. The chapter distinguishes between proportionality and merits review and discusses the use of judicial deference by the courts. Proportionality, and not irrationality, is the test used to determine whether a public authority has acted unlawfully when its decision is challenged by judicial review under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998. The irrationality test is used in non-Human Rights Act judicial review cases, but the courts have also used the proportionality test in cases involving common law rights. The chapter concludes by considering the discussion in the case law and the scholarship as to whether the irrationality test should be replaced by the test of proportionality across both types of case: traditional judicial review cases and those involving a human rights issue.
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8. Liability of Public and Statutory Bodies
This chapter discusses the distinctive nature of the liability of the government, public authorities, and statutory bodies; the liability of statutory bodies in negligence; liability for breach of statutory duty; public law as a source of liability; public law as a source of immunity; Crown proceedings in tort; liability for breaches of EU law; and liabilities arising under the Human Rights Act 1998. The chapter explores in detail the question of whether public authorities, and the police in particular, are under a duty of care when undertaking and performing their operational duties, in light of the Supreme Court decision in Robinson v. Chief Constable of West Yorkshire. In turn, it teases out some of the broader implications of what is a rapidly evolving, and politically sensitive, aspect of the law.
Book
Mark Elliott and Jason N. E. Varuhas
Administrative Law Text and Materials combines carefully selected extracts from key cases, articles, and other sources with detailed commentary. This book provides comprehensive coverage of the subject and brings together in one volume the best features of a textbook and a casebook. Rather than simply presenting administrative law as a straightforward body of legal rules, the text considers the subject as an expression of underlying constitutional and other policy concerns, which fundamentally shape the relationship between the citizen and the state. Topics covered include: jurisdiction, the status of unlawful administrative action, public law principles, abuses of discretion, fairness, remedies, and the liability of public authorities.
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15. Liability of Public Authorities
Mark Elliott and Jason Varuhas
This chapter examines the nature and operation of the liability of public authorities, with particular emphasis on the tensions between the equality principle, a concern that authorities ought to be specially protected, and a concern that authorities ought to be subject to wider and more onerous obligations. The chapter first considers the relationship of public authority liability with judicial review and goes on to discuss the law of torts, especially the tort of negligence and what circumstances courts ought to impose negligence liability on public authorities for harm caused through exercises of statutory discretion. It then explores negligence liability in relation to omissions, human rights, and misfeasance in public office. It also reviews damages under the Human Rights Act 1998, contracts, restitution, and state liability in European Union law.
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2. Negligence I: Duty of Care
Dr Karen Dyer and Dr Anil Balan
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses negligence in terms of duty of care. In order to answer questions on this topic, students need to have the following: a general understanding of the tort of negligence; an understanding of the development of duty of care in negligence, in particular the key cases of Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562; Anns v Merton LBC [1978] AC 728; Caparo plc v Dickman [1990] 2 AC 605; an understanding of the development of duty of care in specialized aspects of negligence; and understanding of liability for omissions and of public authorities.
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14. Torts
A claim for damages for loss caused by a public authority gives a court the opportunity to do justice for the claimant and also to impose the rule of law on the administration. The challenge is to do both without interfering inappropriately in the administrative pursuit of public goods, and without creating public compensation funds that only a legislature can legitimately create. It is an important constitutional principle that liabilities in the law of tort apply to public authorities, just as to private parties. But there is no general liability to compensate for public action that was unlawful; the impugned conduct must meet the standard requirements of the tort liability of private parties, with the exception of the one public tort: misfeasance in a public office. This chapter discusses trespass to property, statutory liabilities, negligence, misfeasance in public office, and damages under the Human Rights Act 1998.
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5. Duty of Care: Applications
All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter deals with particular applications of the duty of care concept that determine the boundaries of the tort. Various cases on duty of care are examined in terms of recognized categories relating to negligently inflicted psychiatric damage, ‘pure economic loss’, and negligence liability of public authorities. The chapter also considers the assumption of responsibility criterion developed from the case of Hedley Byrne v Heller [1964] AC 465, as well as applications of the ‘Caparo approach’ used in establishing whether a duty is owed. Finally, it looks at emerging organizing concepts which appear to span different categories of case law.
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15. Contracts
Contracts are used to structure the legal relationship between government and private service providers. Contract also forms a new model both for relationships between public agencies and for the relationship between the government and the people it serves. The challenge for the government is to deliver services with integrity, with equity, and with efficiency. The challenge for administrative law is to provide forms of accountability that do what the law can do to promote those goals. This chapter discusses government by contract and proportionate administration, accountability and efficiency, capacity to contract, and how the law controls government contracts.
