Wade & Forsyth’s Administrative Law provides a perceptive account, and an unparalleled level of coverage, of the principles of judicial review and a sketch of the administrative arrangements of the UK. First published in 1961, Administrative Law a classic text. In the twelfth edition, the text brings its account of administrative law up to date in light of recent case law and legislation. The volume covers the following areas of administrative law: authorities and their functions; the influence of Europe; powers and jurisdiction; discretionary power; natural justice; remedies and liability; and administrative legislation and adjudication.
Book
William Wade, Christopher Forsyth, and Julian Ghosh
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Smith and Grady v United Kingdom [1999] ECHR 72, European Court of Human Rights
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Smith and Grady v United Kingdom [1999] ECHR 72, European Court of Human Rights. This case examined the now-defunct provisions against gay people serving in the British military, and how using either unreasonableness or proportionality produced different outcomes. It also considers the contribution which a rights-based approach to legal questions, drawing on proportionality, can make to the development of law and policy. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
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Pham v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] UKSC 19, Supreme Court
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Pham v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] UKSC 19, Supreme Court. This case considers the introduction of proportionality as a ground of judicial review beyond human rights and European Union law in the United Kingdom. The relationship between proportionality and Wednesbury unreasonableness is also discussed. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
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Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation [1948] 1 KB 223, Court of Appeal
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation [1948] 1 KB 223, Court of Appeal. This case note considers the concept of unreasonableness as articulated in Wednesbury and reflects on its relationship to that of proportionality. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
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8. Abuse of Discretion II
Mark Elliott and Jason Varuhas
This chapter examines grounds of judicial review that are substantive in two senses: it reduces the range of substantive options open to a decision-maker, or it involves judicial examination of the quality of the reasons for the decision itself, rather than the quality of the process adopted by the decision-maker. The chapter first considers the doctrine of reasonableness or rationality in administrative law before discussing the doctrine of proportionality and the notion of judicial deference in relation to variable intensity review. It also explores the role of the proportionality test in English law and the question of whether English courts are heading towards jettisoning the reasonableness doctrine in favour of utilizing proportionality in all relevant cases.
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13. The Judicial Review Procedure
Mark Elliott and Jason Varuhas
This chapter examines the judicial review procedure, with particular emphasis on two issues: first, what judicial review procedure which claimants seeking a prerogative remedy are required to use; second, the extent to which a claimant seeking to raise a public law matter may avoid having to use the judicial review procedure by issuing a claim for an injunction or declaration. After providing a background on the origins of today's judicial review procedure, the chapter discusses the nature of the judicial review procedure and the impact of human rights claims on judicial review procedure. It also considers when the judicial review procedure must be used, focusing on procedural exclusivity, waiver of exclusivity, defensive use of public law arguments, and the connection between private law rights and public law.
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19. Judicial Review
This chapter looks at judicial review. It considers its recent history, the constitutional foundations for judicial review, and some key issues relating to the practical use and effects of judicial review. It also surveys the grounds of judicial review, and examines what has happened when government and Parliament have attempted to oust judicial review.
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Congreve v Home Office [1976] QB 629, Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Congreve v Home Office [1976] QB 629, Court of Appeal (Civil Division). This case provides an example of illegality in the context of judicial review and also discusses the concept of parliamentary intention, and theoretical models for justifying particular interpretations of it. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
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Anisminic Ltd v Foreign Compensation Commission [1969] 2 AC 147, House of Lords
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in Anisminic Ltd v Foreign Compensation Commission [1969] 2 AC 147, House of Lords. This case note deals with how the House of Lords interpreted an ouster clause, a statutory provision which seeks to prevent judicial supervision of decisions made by subordinate decision-making bodies, and considers the wider constitutional implications of the courts’ approach to ouster clauses. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
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R v Inland Revenue Commissioners, ex parte National Federation of the Self Employed and Small Businesses Ltd [1982] AC 617, House of Lords (also known as Fleet Street Casuals)
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R v Inland Revenue Commissioners, ex parte National Federation of the Self Employed and Small Businesses Ltd [1982] AC 617, House of Lords (also known as the Fleet Street Casuals case). This case concerns when and how an assessment of an applicant’s standing (or interest, locus standi) should be made for the purposes of determining whether they may bring a judicial review. Lord Diplock’s judgment provided a liberal approach to the assessment of standing as compared with the approaches offered by his fellow judges. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
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R v Disciplinary Committee of the Jockey Club, ex parte Aga Khan [1993] 1 WLR 909, Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R v Disciplinary Committee of the Jockey Club, ex parte Aga Khan [1993] 1 WLR 909, Court of Appeal (Civil Division). This case considered under what circumstances a decision-maker could be considered public, or to be exercising a public law function, for the purposes of determining whether that decision-maker was subject to judicial review. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
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R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Brind [1991] UKHL 4, House of Lords
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex parte Brind [1991] UKHL 4, House of Lords. The case considered whether the Secretary of State could restrict the editorial decisions of broadcasters as regards the way in which messages from spokespersons for proscribed organizations were broadcast. The United Kingdom was a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) when the case was heard, but the case also predates the passage of the Human Rights Act 1998. There is discussion of the legal position of the ECHR under the common law in the United Kingdom, and the concept of proportionality in United Kingdom’s domestic jurisprudence. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
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R v Panel on Take-overs and Mergers, ex parte Datafin plc [1987] QB 815, Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R v Panel on Take-overs and Mergers, ex parte Datafin plc [1987] QB 815, Court of Appeal (Civil Division). This case examines the characteristics of bodies which can be subject to judicial review, exploring whether bodies which are ostensibly private in nature can be subject to judicial review if the nature or consequences of their functions and decisions are public. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
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R v Secretary of State for the Environment, ex parte Rose Theatre Trust Co. [1990] 1 QB 504, High Court (Queen’s Bench Division)
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R v Secretary of State for the Environment, ex parte Rose Theatre Trust Co. [1990] 1 QB 504, High Court (Queen’s Bench Division). The case concerned whether an interest group formed to protect a recently rediscovered Elizabethan theatre had sufficient interest to bring a judicial review against a decision not to protect the theatre. The case is considered with the Fleet Street Casuals case [1982] AC 617 and Greenpeace (No. 2) [1994] 2 CMLR 548 in mind. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
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R (on the application of Daly) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2001] UKHL 26, House of Lords
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R (on the application of Daly) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2001] UKHL 26, House of Lords. This case considered whether a blanket policy excluding prisoners from cell searches was a proportionate response that was necessary to achieve the aim of that policy. There is also discussion of whether the common law could provide an alternative system of rights protection to that under the Human Rights Act 1998. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
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16. Delegated Legislation
Mark Elliott and Jason Varuhas
This chapter deals with delegated legislation and the extent of its constitutional propriety. It begins with an overview of the enabling provisions in primary legislation in order to understand the permitted content and nature of the resultant delegated legislation. It then considers enabling provisions known as ‘Henry VIII clauses’, which authorize delegated legislation that amends or repeals primary legislation, as well as the extent of delegated powers. It also discusses the making of delegated legislation, from publication to consultation, legislative and administrative measures of delegated legislation, and the role of Parliament in making delegated legislation. Finally, it reviews parliamentary scrutiny of delegated legislation as well as judicial scrutiny and the general principles of judicial review.
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18. Statutory Tribunals
Mark Elliott and Jason Varuhas
This chapter deals with statutory tribunals, the growth of which mirrors the dramatic expansion of the state itself. It first explains what tribunals are and whether they are a good thing before discussing two important turning points in the development of tribunals: the Franks Report, published in 1957, and the Leggatt Review, published in 2001. It then considers the independence of tribunals, focusing on their judicial leadership as well as tribunal appointments. It also examines some of the key issues and themes which arise from tribunal procedure, paying attention to formality, representation, and the style of tribunal proceedings. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the structure of the tribunals system and its relationship with the courts, with particular emphasis on the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) and the Upper Tribunal (UT), appeals against tribunal decisions, and judicial review by and of the UT.
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19. Ombudsmen
Mark Elliott and Jason Varuhas
This chapter examines the role of the ombudsmen in the administrative justice system. It first traces the origins of the ‘public sector ombudsmen’, including the Parliamentary Ombudsman, in the UK. It then considers the need for and the functions of the ombudsmen, along with the place of the ombudsmen in a changing administrative landscape. It also discusses bodies and matters subject to investigation by the Ombudsman based on the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967, including ‘maladministration’, and the Ombudsman's discretion to investigate. Finally, the chapter reviews the conduct and consequences of the Ombudsman's investigations, paying attention to judicial review of the ombudsmen's conclusions, and institutional matters pertaining to the ombudsman system.
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4. The Scope of Public Law Principles
Mark Elliott and Jason Varuhas
This chapter examines the scope of judicial review as it applies to the principles of public law. It first explains why discretionary powers conferred by legislation are not always subject to judicial review before discussing prerogative powers and their amenability to judicial review. It then considers justiciability as the limiting factor in the extent to which the in-principle reviewability of the prerogative is of any practical significance. It also examines issues regarding de facto powers, with particular emphasis on the scope of judicial review, the limits of review and its underlying rationale, and the extent to which contractual arrangements may displace the courts' willingness to review. Finally, it explores which public bodies must respect human rights under Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998. A number of relevant cases are cited throughout the chapter, including R v. Panel on Take-overs and Mergers, ex parte Datafin plc [1987] QB 815.
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1. Introductory Matters
Mark Elliott and Jason Varuhas
This introduction provides an overview of administrative law and administrative power in the UK. It begins with a discussion of the ‘red light’ and ‘green light’ theories of administrative law, along with judicial review. In particular, it considers the scope and intensity of judicial review, why judicial review is expanding, and whether (more) judicial review is a good thing. It then examines the debate about the constitutional basis of judicial review, focusing on the ultra vires doctrine and its modified version, and whether judicial review must be related to legislative intention. It also explains administrative power in the modern UK constitution, paying attention to the main features of the devolution systems, the powers and nature of the devolved institutions, the political and legal accountability of devolved administrations, and the powers of the local government.