13. Grounds for Judicial Review: Procedural Impropriety, Natural Justice, and Legitimate Expectation

Procedural Impropriety and Natural Justice
  • Procedural impropriety means breach of the rules of natural justice and failure to comply with statutory procedural requirements.
  • The rules of natural justice form a judicial code of procedural fairness. The rules are that no man is to be a judge in his own cause and that all the parties to a dispute shall be fairy heard.
  • The rules of natural justice apply to all judicial proceedings in courts and tribunals.
  • One unique feature of procedural impropriety as a ground for judicial review is that the extent to which the rules of natural justice apply varies depending on the context of the case.
  • Pecuniary bias arises where the adjudicator may have a financial interest in the outcome of a decision.
  • Personal bias is anything which might cause an adjudicator to view one side in a dispute more or less favourably than the other.
Legitimate Expectation
  • A person may have a legitimate expectation of being treated in a certain way by an administrative authority even though there is no other legal basis upon which he could claim such treatment.
  • A legitimate expectation may arise from a representation or promise; a consistent past practice, and the conduct of the decision-maker.
  • The basic principle is that the principles of fairness, predictability, and certainty should not be disregarded, provided there are no overriding policy considerations like national security.


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