Ministerial Override Certificates and the Law/Fact Distinction - A Comparison between Australia and the United Kingdom
The UK Supreme Court Yearbook - Volume 6: Legal Year 2014-2015, D. Clarry, C. Sargeant, eds, Appellate Press Ltd, UK, 2015
26 Pages Posted: 8 Jan 2016 Last revised: 9 Nov 2016
Date Written: 2015
Abstract
To what extent should Australian and British courts continue to look to one another? To the extent that they do, how cautious or critical should the examination be, and is the approach the same in private law and in public law? This paper focusses on public law. It seeks, in light of recent views expressed by Lord Neuberger PSC and Sir Anthony Mason, to examine the current approach in the United Kingdom to two administrative law topics of recurring importance: the approach taken by courts to Ministerial override certificates, and the distinction between questions of fact and questions of law. It concludes that despite the similarity of the issues, the approaches are very different, and offers some explanation for why that is so.
Keywords: Comparative law, administrative law, R (Evans) v Attorney General, Jones v First Tier Tribunal, ministerial certificate, judicial review, fact/law distinction
JEL Classification: K10, K30, K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation