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MLLS 0614 HONOUR SCHOOL OF JURISPRUDENCE

MAGISTER JURIS

DIPLOMA IN LEGAL STUDIES

Trinity Term 2001

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

S a t u r d a y , 2 J u n e 2001, 9.30 a.m. - 12.30 p.m.

Materials in the Examination Room:

The following will be supplied:

[Nonel

Candidates should answerfour questions,

except for candidates for the Diploma in Legal Studies, who should answer three questions.

Do not turn over until told that you may do so.

1. How, if at all, might the coming into force of the Human Rights Act 1998 be expected
to affect the theoretical basis for judicial review?

2. "Almost all of the recent developments in that aspect of the ultra vires doctrine which
deals with abuse of discretion have unwisely flown in the face of Lord Devlin's comment that
it is no better to be administered by judges than to be judged by administrators."

Discuss.

3. Was Hirst L.J. right, in R. v Home Secretary, exp. Hargreaves (1996), to describe the
doctrine of substantive legitimate expectation as "heresy"?

4. Now that some other Commonwealth jurisdictions have rejected the test for bias
embraced by the House of Lords in R. v Gough (1993), is it time to take a fresh look at other
tests for bias, at least for some kinds of case?

5. "Understood from an empirical perspective, judicial review is better conceived of as a

form of individual dispute resolution than as a way of improving standards of administration
in government."

Discuss.

. Answer E I T H E R (a) OR (b)

(a) "If it came to be recognised just how significant are the legal limitations upon the
powers of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, there might be a better
prospect of persuading Parliament to extend those powers."

Discuss.

OR:

(b) What part, if any, of the doctrine of public interest immunity genuinely advances
the public interest, properly so called?

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 . Answer E I T H E R (a) OR (b)

(a) "[T]he underlying principle...relating to negligence in the exercise of a statutory

discretion is that the courts will not permit a claim for negligence to be brought where
a decision on the existence of negligence would involve the courts in considering
matters of policy raising issues which they are ill-equipped and ill-suited to assess and
on which Parliament could not have intended that the courts would substitute their
views for the views of ministers or officials." (LORD HUTTON in Barrett v Enfield
London Borough Council (1999)).

Discuss.

OR:

(b) What special principles, applicable to cases involving a public law element, can be
seen operating as regards common law torts other than that of negligence?

8. "The fundamental problem, in relation to the judicial review procedure under section
31 of the Supreme Court Act 1981, is not so much the issue of the cases in which it must be
used, but rather that of those in which it may be used."

Discuss.

9. What are the arguments in favour of having a wider concept of standing in public law
cases? Are they likely to be advanced or inhibited by the coming into effect of the Human
Rights Act 1998?

10. Answer E I T H E R (a) OR (b)

(a) What challenges, if any, do the techniques of government associated with "New
Public Management" present for the traditional notions of administrative law?

OR:

(b) Would it be better to leave all administrative decision-making to executive

governmental bodies, though with a system of appeal to the ordinary courts, rather
than to entrust much of that decision-making to a range of tribunals and inquiries?

THEEND

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