Lecture 17

Question 1

why is it that jr requires constitutional justification?

Answer 1

bc the power to undertake JR of administrative action was not conferred on the courts by Parliament but stems instead from the common law

In other words, an unelected Judiciary awarded itself the right to carry out JR of the exercise of public powers by the Executive

Question 2

what was jr originally?

Answer 2

JR was very limited in scope, with the courts limiting themselves to asking whether a public body had exceeded/abused powers which had been granted to it by Parl & so had acted illegally (the ‘ultra vires’ principle)

Question 3

what have gradually overtime have the courts done in regards to jr?

Answer 3

gradually expanded scope of jr in so doing raising doubts over their original justifications for establishing JR in the first place

Question 4

what did we see in lecture 16 in regards to this?

Answer 4

that the Judiciary’s traditional justification for establishing and developing the mechanism of JR was that JR upholds:

Question 5

what did jr need to uphold?

Answer 5

i) the ideal of the Rule of Law
ii) the political doctrine of the Separation of Powers
iii) the legal doctrine of Parliamentary Supremacy