Judicial Reviews may be brought against public authorities on the basis that the public authority has breached principles of good administration such as acting unlawfully, irrationally, in breach of published guidelines or so unreasonably that no reasonable public authority would act in that manner.

Other grounds for challenging decision include procedural impropriety and procedural unfairness.

Another ground for Judicial Review may also be that a decision breached the Claimant’s human rights under the European Convention.

Oral evidence is very rare in Judicial Reviews.  The facts should infrequently be in dispute, as what is being undertaken is a review by a Judge of a public authority decision.  Frequently, a narrow point of law is involved in the Judicial Review and a substantive hearing may well only take a day to decide the point.

An application can be made for a Judicial Review to be considered urgently.  In extreme cases, an application can be made by telephone out of hours for an urgent injunction.

Remedies in Judicial Review include quashing the decision, a declaration as to legal rights and an injunction preventing the public authority from acting in that manner.

A claim for damages can be brought as part of a Judicial Review and is a useful form of redress for a claim when a public authority has been found to have acted unlawfully.