Importance Of Judicial Review

Introduction

"Judicial review allows people with sufficient interest in a decision or action by a public body to ask a judge to review the lawfulness of a decision, action or failure to act in relation to the exercise of a public function" . Judicial Review may only be utilized once all other possibilities have been exhausted within the domestic legal system at common law. This article will discuss standing, grounds of judicial review and remedies for judicial review in regards to Scottish Lawyers Against Division 's (SLAD) situation.

European Convention on Human Rights

The European Convention on Human Rights is used as a tool to ensure that human rights issues are interpreted in domestic law. The Convention is able to interject when a decision is under review and the decision maker has stated that the convention rights were considered when creating the decision. The court is able to examine the actualization of such an argument and do so with the view to give the applicant an effective

In the past the scope of error differed in Scotland and England. The grounds for review have been broken down into three areas: illegality, procedural impropriety and irrationality . Lord Diplock establishes the first ground as "illegality", which is where a decision maker has not correctly understood the law and in turn has not correctly applied it within their decision. The second ground is "irrationality". He creates a modern equivalent of unreasonableness in the form of "irrationality", which he defines as a decision “which is so outrageous in its defiance of logic or of acceptance of moral standards that no sensible person could have made that decision.” The third ground which can be presented for judicial review is on the basis of "procedural impropriety". Lord Diplock meant that "Procedural impropriety" occurs where a breach of common law, rules or procedural unfairness has