The House of Lords Constitution Committee reports on Article 50
By Mark Elliott and Stephen Tierney
Judicial Power’s 50 “problematic” cases and the limits of the judicial role
The Judicial Power Project has published a list of 50 “problematic” cases. It makes for interesting reading. The aim of the Judicial Power Project is to address the “problem” of […]
The duty to give reasons and the new statutory “makes no difference” principle
I wrote in December about what might loosely be termed the “makes no difference” principle introduced by section 84 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, which inserts new […]
The 2016 Sir David Williams Lecture: The Lion Beneath the Throne
On 4 March 2016, Sir Stephen Sedley delivered the 2016 Sir David Williams Lecture at the Faculty of Law in Cambridge. Sedley took as his title ‘The Lion Beneath the Throne: […]
Ali v United Kingdom: Article 6(1) ECHR and administrative decision-making
To say that the extent to which Article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights applies to administrative decision-making is a vexed issue would be something of an understatement. […]
Bell, Elliott, Varuhas and Murray (eds): Public Law Adjudication in Common Law Systems: Process and Substance
In September 2014,together with my colleagues John Bell, Jason Varuhas and Philip Murray, I co-convened a conference in Cambridge on the subject of Process and Substance in Public Law—the first in […]
From Heresy to Orthodoxy: Substantive Legitimate Expectations in English Public Law
I recently finished work on a paper examining the development of the doctrine of legitimate expectation. Entitled ‘From Heresy to Orthodoxy: Substantive Legitimate Expectations in English Public Law’, the piece […]
Youssef: Another Supreme Court decision, another set of obiter dicta on substantive judicial review
Supreme Court judgments addressing—but not resolving—the future direction of substantive judicial review have been coming thick and fast in the last year or two. Notable examples include Kennedy v The […]
Declarations, quashing orders and declaratory judgments: The Hawke case and section 84 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015
Under Chris Grayling’s stewardship of the Ministry of Justice, the view took hold—ample evidence to the contrary notwithstanding—that too many claims for judicial review were being initiated, and that judicial review was being used abusively for ‘political’ purposes. One of the ill-conceived ideas that grew out of this unfounded notion was that courts should be required to withhold relief in judicial-review […]
Q: How many Supreme Court Justices does it take to perform the Wednesbury doctrine’s burial rites? A: More than five
Twelve years ago, the Court of Appeal said—in R (Association of British Civilian Internees (Far East Region)) v Secretary of State for Defence [2003] EWCA Civ 473—that, given its perceived […]
Mandalia v Home Secretary [2015] UKSC 59: Legitimate expectations and the consistent application of policy
The Supreme Court gave judgment today in Mandalia v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] UKSC 59. The question for the Court was whether the UK Border Agency had acted […]
The Unity of Public Law? — The 2016 Public Law Conference
Building on the success of the inaugural Public Law Conference that was held in 2014, the Centre for Public Law at the University of Cambridge will next year host the […]
Bourgass in the Supreme Court: Solitary Confinement, the Carltona Doctrine and Procedural Fairness
A post to draw attention to an interesting administrative-law case decided by the Supreme Court today. The central question in R (Bourgass) v Secretary of State for Justice [2015] UKSC […]
Now published: Wilberg and Elliott (eds), The Scope and Intensity of Substantive Review: Traversing Taggart’s Rainbow
I am pleased to announce the publication of The Scope and Intensity of Substantive Review: Traversing Taggart’s Rainbow, which I co-edited with Hanna Wilberg. Inspired by the work of the late Professor Michael Taggart, this collection of essays from across the common law world is concerned with two separate but related themes. First, to what extent and by what means should review […]
Book chapter: From Bifurcation to Calibration — Twin-Track Deference and the Culture of Justification
I am pleased to be able to share a near-final draft of my chapter in The Scope and Intensity of Substantive Judicial Review: Traversing Taggart’s Rainbow. The book is a collection of essays, inspired by the work of the late Professor Michael Taggart, and edited by Hanna Wilberg and me. It will be published shortly by Hart Publishing. My chapter […]
Proportionality and contextualism in common-law review: The Supreme Court’s judgment in Pham
The recent decision of the UK Supreme Court in Pham v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] UKSC 19 marks a turning-point in the role of proportionality […]
