This paper accompanied a seminar looking at the application of judicial review principles to the regulators across a range of commercial sectors , focused on recent cases and also particular trends.
14 Dec 2016
There are essentially two ways in which a person may challenge the sufficiency of inquest proceedings or a decision by a coroner not to hold an inquest at all. The first and most obvious is by way of judicial review proceedings. The second is by way of a s13 application under the Coroners Act 1988.This paper will briefly consider the law and procedure pertaining to applications to the Attorney-General for a fiat and applications to the High Court pursuant to s13 of the Coroners Act 1988.
9 Dec 2016
On 11 October 2016 the IPB passed the report stage , which leaves only the third reading before royal assent. It is likely to become law in January 2017. The Bill is an unprecedented legislative assault on privacy. Although it is welcome in that it seeks to regulate what the authorities have been doing anyway without any formal legal basis , it contains incredibly far-reaching powers with insufficient oversight.
8 Dec 2016
This paper considers some of the obligations and powers under which the State comes to investigate deaths , incidents of serious harm and abuse , and other forms of wrongdoing. These obligations and powers can , in limited circumstances , be used in judicial review proceedings to challenge decisions of Government and other public authorities on whether to conduct an investigation , and , if so , what form of investigation is required
The last few years have seen a raft of discrimination claims come before the higher courts in public law cases. A significant proportion of these claims have succeeded , in areas as diverse as the allocation of social housing and the payment of disability benefits.
The investigatory Powers Bill (IPB) provides a legal framework to UK state surveillance , purporting to balance personal privacy with the needs of state to provide security and prevent fraud and terrorism. The panellists disucss the public law issues arising from the so called ‘snoopers charter’.
18 Nov 2016
The introduction of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (“DoLSâ€) to the MCA 2005 on 1 April 2009 imposed a statutory responsibility on local authorities to oversee and operate a scheme to lawfully deprive the liberty of adults who lack the capacity to consent to arrangements made for their care or treatment in either hospitals or care home in their own best interests.
17 Nov 2016
There have been rapid technological developments and the scale of data sharing and collection has increased dramatically. Intelligent technology allows private and state use of personal data on an unprecedented scale. There is a wide variation in national implementation of Directive 95/46/EC , and a need to do away with legal uncertainty and current costly fragmentation.
The next six years marks out the most ambitious period of change since the Judicature Acts of the 1870s. The aim that the Lord Chief Justice and I have agreed with the Lord Chancellor is quite simply to strengthen the rule of law. The reform programme that was announced this last month is a breathtaking £1bn investment project.
11 Nov 2016
There has been a good deal of discussion of late about the notion of judicial overreach , the suggestion being that ‘judicial power’ needs to be more carefully confined than it has been in the recent past. In this talk , Mark Elliott , while acknowledging that there must be , or are , limits to judicial power , will critically examine and challenge the argument that the courts are guilty of significant overreach.
3 Nov 2016
The number and diversity of JR cases is now such that a review of the year can only hope to cover a small sample of the Administrative Court’s workload. The selection of cases here (from September 2015 to August 2016) necessarily reflects our personal choice , and no doubt there are many others that could have been included. We have each picked three cases. They are summarised in chronological order.
2 Nov 2016
How will EU law cease to apply in the UK subsequent to ‘The Great Repeal Bill’? What are the implications for the future of law referencing EU institutions? Martin considers these and many other questions addressing to our annual conference in October 2016.