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What is a Judicial Review?

A judicial review is a special type of proceeding in court where a judge decides on the legality of decisions or actions taken by a public organisation. The merits of the actual conclusions reached by the public body’s process are not the matter at issue here, but rather the ways in which the decisions were arrived at.

The whole purpose of a judicial review is to check that the right and proper procedures have been followed rather than to try and determine whether the final result or conclusion was ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. It is not the business of the court in a judicial review to decide that a ‘wrong’ decision was reached and then try to correct it.

Anyone who has a grievance concerning a decision that has been made by a public body can argue against it, but a judicial review will probably not be the right route for the complaint. In most cases it will be best to launch an appeal against the decision itself in a higher court rather than the procedure that was used to reach it.

There are many types of decisions and actions taken by public bodies that can end up being the subject of a judicial review. Local authorities frequently make decisions concerning special education and welfare benefits. The immigration authorities make decisions on the merits of various asylum applications, and experienced immigration solicitors will often become involved. The decisions arrived at by regulatory bodies and decisions made by the bodies that deal with the rights of prison inmates are other examples of decisions that are made through a process that may be questioned as to whether it was strictly correct, regardless of the actual end results.

The High Court normally deals with issues of judicial review in cases where an individual or some agency or organisation is unhappy with a decision that has been reached by a public body and questions the process that led to it. All public bodies are liable to judicial reviews including departments of government, the police, local authorities and all bodies that have public functions.

The argument advanced against decisions arrived at by public bodies will usually be that there was a degree of irrationality or illegality involved in the process, or that there was some defect in the process itself that led to an unfair decision being made. Damages may be available if it is found by the court that the public body was at fault.
A solicitor such as Duncan Lewis should be consulted before considering taking a public body to judicial review, because the process involved is very complex. Initial applications are made to the High Court, and these applications may be denied for various reasons such as there being no arguable case, or because there was an undue delay before making an application.