Administrative Law and Judicial Review
What this domain tests
This domain tests the control of public administration by law: delegated legislation, administrative discretion, natural justice, and the scope of judicial review in writ petitions.
Core rules
- Legality, rationality, proportionality: an administrative act must have legal authority, pursue a proper purpose, and use means proportionate to that purpose.
- Natural justice: audi alteram partem (a fair hearing) and nemo judex in causa sua (no bias, actual or apparent).
- Reasoned decisions: a decision affecting rights should disclose the reasons so review is possible.
- Delegation: a delegate cannot further sub-delegate unless the statute permits it (delegatus non potest delegare).
- Discretion must be exercised, not fettered by fixed policy, and not used for an ulterior purpose.
- Remedies: certiorari to quash, mandamus to compel performance, prohibition to restrain; review addresses legality and process, not the merits.
Worked example
A licence is cancelled without notice or hearing. Certiorari quashes the order for breach of natural justice and mandamus compels the authority to reconsider after hearing the licensee. The court does not decide whether the licence should have been cancelled; it sends the matter back, noting that a statutory appeal must normally be exhausted first.
Traps that cost marks
Asking the court to substitute its view on the merits; ignoring an alternative statutory remedy; alleging bias on speculation; describing a policy decision as illegal without a legality ground.