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NLJ this week: Judicial review power-grab may miss the target

03 December 2021
Issue: 7959 / Categories: Legal News , Judicial review
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Judicial review has found itself in the government’s crosshairs on several occasions in the past decade, Matthew Smith, partner, DBD Pitmans, writes in this week’s NLJ. Focusing on the latest attempts to reform judicial review, he points out a troubling presumption in the proposed bill, which he thinks would be better removed

Smith also highlights how a proposal on the retrospective effect of a quashing order appears to give the judiciary rather than Parliament the power to change the position retrospectively.

He writes: ‘If, as seems likely, one of the government’s motivations for proposing reform of judicial review is to clip the judges’ wings, it is arguable that it has missed the target. Further, in doing so, ministers appear (perhaps inadvertently) to have undermined Parliament, thus risking further tensions in a constitutional framework which is already under considerable stress.’ 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
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After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
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