Threatened changes to Judicial Review

The threatened changes to Judicial Review are a real threat to personal freedom. The remedy of Judicial Review in the high Court is designed as a means of individual citizens keeping a check on the activities of those public bodies carrying out a public function. It is a wonderfully effective remedy, given trhe right circumstances. It governs and controls actions which are either perverse, wholly unreasonable, ultra vires or illegal.

The proposed changes include an increase in Court fees and cutting down the time limit for bringing such a claim in the first place. Even the learned Lord Chief Justice has thrown his wig in the ring and expressed concerns that the proposals may have the reverse effect to that which is intended. By cutting down the time limit from the current three months, more Applications, rather than less, might be brought because there will just not be enough time to mediate and compromise. How silly is that! In practice, in the context of judicial review, three months is not a long time and what the emphasis should be on is rather the time it takes for a Judicial Review Application to come before the Court. Some more potentially false economy.