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25 February 2016
Issue: 7688 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice
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Under review

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Is the Wednesbury principle consigned to history? Alec Samuels reports

Is the Wednesbury principle, Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation [1948] 1 KB 223, [1947] 2 All ER, CA, consigned to the dustbin of history? If not, what exactly does it mean today? Is the European principle of proportionality, derived from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), part of English law, and, if so, what exactly does it mean? The contemporary answers are to be found in R (Keyu) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2015] UKSC 69, [2015] 3 WLR 1665.

The short answer is that the action or decision of a public body may still be challenged by way of judicial review on the basis of common law irrationality and on the basis of the European principle of lack of proportionality.

The latest authoritative re-statement of the irrationality rule is to be found in the judgment of Lord Neuberger para 127, Lord Hughes and Lord Mance agreeing: “An executive decision can

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

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Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
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NLJ this week: Divorce ‘nuclear weapon’ freezes assets but entangles outsiders
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Your magistrates’ court needs you!
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
NLJ this week: Freed but failed—justice system leaves the innocent empty-handed
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
NLJ this week: Clarity on whistleblowing, settlements and tribunal limits
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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