Date: 27Oct 2015
Title: The Recent Reform of the Application for Judicial Review in England: Lessons for Hong Kong?
In this seminar, Professor Christopher Forsyth will examine Part IV of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 and how it has introduced important changes into the English law governing the application for judicial review. The changes relate primarily to the leave and permission requirement and to costs in judicial review proceedings. These changes are driven by a government perception that in England the application for judicial review is often abused by unmeritorious applicants. So the changes make leave more difficult to obtain against the background of a costs regime more hostile to applicants. The impact of these changes on the functioning of the application for judicial review will be considered. Comparisons will be drawn with the law in Hong Kong (generally favourable to Hong Kong).
Professor Christopher Forsyth holds the chair of Public Law and Private International Law at the University of Cambridge. He is the author with the late Sir William Wade, QC of Administrative Law (9th ed, 2004) a standard work on the subject cited regularly by courts and counsel through the common law world. He is the author of more than nine other books on different aspects of public law and private international law as well as a substantive volume of journal articles. Professor Christopher Forsyth is a Recorder and regularly sits in the Crown Court as a judge.
