A note from Adam Perry and Angelo Ryu Administrative law is moving quickly, with courts, regulators, and automated systems reshaping how power is used and reviewed. The Oxford Administrative Law Workshop brings together scholars working on English administrative law and closely related fields for two days of discussion at Brasenose College. ABOUT THE WORKSHOP The […] Read more

Two recent appellate decisions prompt further thought on the general issue of how Canadian courts should deal with legislative design choices for regulatory regimes and the specific issue of how to address the potential overlap between applications for judicial review and rights of appeal. In particular, the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal has taken […] Read more

Appropriately enough for Halloween (perhaps!), here is my ‘year in review‘ paper for this year: This paper traces how Canadian courts in 2025 continued to consolidate and refine the post-Vavilov landscape. The year’s jurisprudence reflects a mature administrative law—anchored in justification, consistency, and institutional restraint—rather than one in doctrinal flux. At the Supreme Court, Pepa […] Read more

In a previous post, I discussed a recent decision of the Federal Court of Appeal about the ground covered by an appeal on a question of law or jurisdiction, on the one hand, and an application for judicial review, on the other hand. Now the Federal Court of Appeal has returned to the issue, this […] Read more

Our “Vavilov at 5″ conference, held only in June, has gone through the Alberta Law Review publication process in what feels like record time. Kudos most of all to the editors-in-chief Lauren Stavert and Eli Ziff, who took this on at the tail end of their mandate, and to the contributors who produced drafts and responded […] Read more

I spoke to a journalist from the Canadian Press today about Universal Ostrich Farms and the ostriches that are destined to be culled subsequent to a H5N1 outbreak (albeit one that doesn’t seem to have affected any surviving members of the herd). Readers will recall my post on the legal issues in the case. The […] Read more

In recognition of the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, I am reproducing a short extract from a piece written this year for a conference in honour of Russell Brown, in which I try assess where Justice Brown stood in relation to the administrative state: All told, I would place Justice Brown on the substance […] Read more

On rare occasions, an administrative decision-maker will conduct a hearing in such a way as to give rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias, that is that the decision-maker had prejudged the outcome before the conclusion of the hearing. Environmental Appeal Board v. District Director, Metro Vancouver, 2025 BCCA 303. The Court of Appeal (Edelmann […] Read more

Last year, in Auer the Supreme Court of Canada applied the reasonableness standard to judicial review of regulations, settling a vibrant academic debate and appellate split in favour of the Vavilov framework. Two important recent appellate decisions underscore that Vavilov is the general framework for judicial review of administrative action: Universal Ostrich Farms Inc. v. Canada (Food Inspection […] Read more