From Blogger

From Blogger

Common Law Restraints on Discretionary Powers: S156-2013 v. Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, [2014] HCA 22

An old debate in administrative law concerns the appropriate role of courts in imposing common law restrictions on discretionary powers. For example, when a statute says “X may, in his absolute discretion, do Y”, are any limitations of fairness or rationality implied by the common law? The modern tendency has been to admit that there […] Read more

From Blogger

Norms, Facts and Metaphors: the Fabulous Baker Factors and other Tall Administrative Law Tales

When judges strike down administrative decisions, they take a step that must be justifiable and justified in normative terms. I suppose we all agree on that. Yet whole swathes of administrative law doctrine do not establish normative standards for judicial intervention. Rather, they rely on descriptive labels.The rule against bias is an excellent example. A […] Read more

From Blogger

A Brief History of (Recent) Time: the Struggle for Deference in Canada

A major collection on substantive judicial review of administrative action will appear shortly under Hart Publishing’s imprint. Edited by Mark Elliott and Hanna Wilberg, The Scope and Intensity of Substantive Review: Traversing Taggart’s Rainbow brings together many of the world’s leading public law scholars in a collection that follows in the sizeable footsteps of The […] Read more