‘Judicial Review concerns the legality of decisions. Not their merits.’ Discuss.

  • Judicial review is concerned not with the merits of the decision, but whether the public body has acted lawfully.
  • It is not concerned with the merits of a decision (i.e. with whether or not it is a good or bad decision, or whether it is morally right or wrong), unless the decision is fundamentally irrational.
  • The courts may reach a view that a decision is so unreasonable or irrational that no reasonable authority could have reached that decision, having regard to all the facts, and therefore the Court can declare the decision unlawful.

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