Judicial Reviews
Judicial reviews or appeals by way of Case Stated challenge the lawfulness or appropriateness of a decision or action by a public body. As far as its application to criminal proceedings is concerned both sets of proceedings allow the High Court to exercise its supervisory jurisdiction to ensure that a court
- has not acted in excess of jurisdiction or
- come to a decision that no reasonable tribunal directing itself on the law could have reached or
- has come to a decision owing to an error on the face of the record, whereby an error of law appears on the record
Although any person who has sufficient interest in the decision complained of may apply for judicial review or apply to have the cases stated the scope to refer matters to the High Court for their opinion is limited and for example does not normally include appeals against sentence or conviction.
Proceedings before the High Court are conducted within strict timetables which differ from the usual Rules of Court; are quasi civil in their nature (Judicial Review Proceedings are conducted in accordance with Part 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules whilst Part 64 Criminal Procedure Rules 2010 and the Orders available to the Court include certiorari (quashing the original decision) to mandamus (quashing the decision and directing that the decision be made in accordance with the judgment of the Court). In addition this is a developing area of law with judgements issued by the High Court on a weekly basis that have both specific and general application to criminal proceedings.
Proceedings before the High Court are clearly a very specialised area. When considering whether to judicially review a Court's decision it is therefore very important to have a lawyer that is able to competently navigate the relevant rules, knows the order that is being sought and is able to act in an expeditious way. At H.P. Gower we are able to apply to the High Court for their opinion on your behalf as part of our unique continuous service.
The following is a small sample of cases that our solicitors have been involved with:-
R v D this case involved an application in the Magistrates' Court to state a case for the opinion of the High Court when a District Judge refused to rule on an Abuse of Process application.
R v D2 The Magistrates' Court refused to state the case for the opinion of the High Court and therefore consideration was given to judicially reviewing that decision and seeking an order of mandamus forcing them to do so.
