We know that administrative tribunals have plenty of scope to design their own procedures, which need not resemble those of a regular court. But there are limits, as the Québec Court of Appeal recently explained in a case involving a real estate agent who represented himself — unsuccessfully — at a disciplinary hearing.In Ménard c. […] Read more

At first blush, the result in North End Community Health Association v. Halifax (Regional Municipality), 2012 NSSC 330 is striking. A municipality’s decision to sell an old school to a property developer was held to be unlawful because it breached a duty of fairness to local non-profit organizations and because it was sold at less […] Read more

You know when academics say, “Some of my best ideas come from students”? Sometimes, we mean it.A student I had a couple of years ago came to talk to me about procedural fairness in administrative law. “Why don’t you focus more on the right to respond? We talk about hearings, the right to counsel, and […] Read more

The Manitoba Court of Appeal, in London Limos v. Unicity Taxi Ltd., 2012 MBCA 75, recently discussed whether market participants in regulated industries have any procedural rights when new companies apply to enter the market. The answer in this case was some, but not many. London Limos applied to the provincial Taxicab Board for licences […] Read more

Volochay v. College of Massage Therapists of Ontario, 2012 ONCA 541, involves a masseur, (alleged) extra-marital sex, (alleged) intimidation of a witness and (allegedly) a vengeful government agency. A story interesting enough, then, to survive even the following injection of administrative law principles.A former patient of the applicant’s made a complaint against him, on the […] Read more

An interesting decision from the Federal Court of Canada today, the latest installment in a long-running labour relations saga at Canada Post.The Conservative federal government intervened last year to compel Canada Post workers to go back on the job. One component of the back-to-work legislation was that a “final offer” arbitrator would be appointed. Both […] Read more

Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency won a High Court legal battle against Treasury Holdings earlier this week, but it may end up losing the war. Finlay Geoghegan J.’s judgment, [2012] IEHC 297, cannot have been well received at NAMA headquarters. Over at NAMA Wine Lake, the editors wonder out loud “if indeed the Agency is […] Read more

The Working Group on EU Administrative Law of Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs recently reported on the desirability of an EU-wide code of administrative procedure along the lines of America’s Administrative Procedure Act (or Ontario’s Statutory Powers Procedure Act).Interestingly, the Committee accepts that ‘soft law’ — internal policy, expressed in a variety of non-binding forms […] Read more

Mindful of the threat of a terrorist attack during the Olympics, the British authorities have developed an Air Security Plan. One element of the plan is to install missiles on the roof of a residential apartment tower in Leytonstone. Unsurprisingly, the residents were upset. They went, unsuccessfully, to the High Court to judicially review the […] Read more

A basic principle of administrative law is that a decision-maker must approach its decisions with an open mind. Demonstrating that a decision-maker had a “closed mind”, however, is extremely difficult. A decision-maker bent on refusing an application come what may will, if clever enough, keep his or her prejudices to him or herself.Interestingly, the applicant […] Read more