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Administrative Law · Unit 3

Tribunals, Discretion and the Liability of Government

Unit 3 of Administrative Law (syllabus: Module III — administrative tribunals, their characteristics and their distinction from courts; tribunalisation and judicial independence; administrative discretion and its judicial control; the grounds of review, legitimate expectation and proportionality; and the tortious and contractual liability of Government, sovereign and non-sovereign functions, and statutory immunities and privileges). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.

What this unit covers

  • When is a conferment of discretion itself void?
  • When has an authority failed to exercise its discretion?
  • When has an authority abused its discretion?
  • Which standard of review applies to administrative action?
  • What is the effect of a legitimate expectation?
  • Against whom, and for what, does mandamus lie?
  • On what grounds does certiorari issue, and what is beyond it?
  • Can a statute exclude judicial review?
  • What is the constitutional position of an administrative tribunal?
  • How must a tribunal that takes over a court jurisdiction be constituted?

Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.

Provisions

Leading cases

Full case summaries

Exam questions on this unit

In this paper