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What Is Procedural Irrationality?

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Second, one of the more successful grounds of judicial review is that of procedural impropriety. Procedural impropriety ensures that a public body follows procedures in legislation and does not breach the rules of natural justice. This is done to ensure that decision making bodies follow the correct steps when coming to a decision, if this is not followed then the decision could come into question on its validity. During Forestry Industry Training Board v Aylesbury Mushrooms Ltd a minister failed to follow the prescribed procedure when introducing regulations. His actions were held to be ultra vires and the regulations made ineffective after judicial review proceedings had concluded. In Wheeler v Leicester City Council it was held that there …show more content…

Legitimate expectations occur where a public body has made a promise and then goes back on it. The most prominent case for legitimate expectations is R v North and East Devon Health Authority ex parte Coughlan. The decision here was challenged as it was argued that a legitimate expectation had been held by Miss Coughlan that the nursing home would be her home for life so the health authority could not close it. Irrationality was an additional ground brought forth in this claim but was not widely discussed as legitimate expectation cases have different characteristics than those considered in irrationality cases. Another case where legitimate expectations were brought forward was in the GCHQ case where unions claimed a legitimate expectation of being consulted about changes to terms under which civil servants worked. It was held that legitimate expectations can be had out of past practices that gave rise to such expectations and that they must be followed unless national security outweighed the expectation. Lord Scarman also stated that prerogative powers could be judicially reviewed, if they affected the matter at hand, through the principles created in respect of the review of statutory powers. Also, legitimate expectations must also be based on a promise that is clear and unambiguous or else they may be rejected as was the case in R (on the application of Bancoult (No 2)) v …show more content…

It is through the judicial review grounds that this objective is fulfilled and remains fit for purpose. A claim of irrationality is one of the more vaguely defined grounds of judicial review and allows a lot of discretion by the judges. The Wednesbury test is often difficult to meet but that is due to how careful the review system is when considering what falls under an unreasonable decision. If the Wednesbury test was not as challenging it would open the floodgates to a wide spectrum of what could be considered reasonable. The uncertainty of the irrationality ground is why it is often paired with another ground so make sure a claim is successful. Procedural impropriety is one such ground that is easy to identify and contains a clear set of policies of what qualifies as a breach in natural justice and legal procedure. It is from this ground that legitimate expectations have a better opportunity to succeed in judicial review hearings. The grounds of the judicial review system are vital when holding the executive power accountable for their actions and offer a way to clarify what type of wrong needs to be reviewed in the decision-making

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