ESCAPING THE WILDERNESS: R. v BOLTON AND JUDICIAL REVIEW FOR ERROR OF LAW. (3rd May 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Murray, Philip
• Is Part Of: Cambridge law journal. Volume 75:Part 2(2016:Jul.)
• Page Start: 333
• Page End: 365
• Publication Date: 2016-05-03
• Subjects: administrative law, -- judicial review, -- error of law, -- jurisdiction, -- history of administrative law; Law -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 349.41
• DOI: 10.1017/S0008197316000209
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0008-1973

Abstract

Abstract: English administrative law treats almost all errors of law as reviewable. Concerns that this deprives administrators of their autonomy have led to calls for a distinction to be drawn between jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional errors of law. This was commonplace for much of administrative law's history. Such calls have fallen on deaf ears as courts and commentators express caution towards retreating to an approach which, it is said, led to a "wilderness of single instances". This article examines the older law to see whether that was really the case, concentrating on the important decision of the Court of Queen's Bench in R. v Bolton (1841).