Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 August 2022
This chapter present my own theory of judicial review, which I call a ‘common law ultra vires theory'. Based around the logic of ‘acting beyond one's powers', judicial review follows the narrow and broad limb. Although statutory provisions will be relevant and even dispositive where they exist, both of these limbs have roots in the common law supervisory jurisdiction of the judicial office to interpret and enforce the rules of competence and rules of conduct that empower and constrain executive officials. This theory of judicial review applies naturally and without distortion to statutory and non-statutory executive powers alike, and, within the latter category, no further distinctions need to be made between those powers associated with the Royal Prerogative and those that follow as a logical consequence of the Crown being a corporation with legal personality – or indeed any other basis of executive vires. Looking at recent UK Supreme Court jurisprudence for indirect but significant support, I argue that ‘justiciability'and ‘deference’ have a more limited role to play in the theory and practice of judicial review than first appears – even in the context of the ‘high’ prerogatives.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.