Where disclosure of documents would be detrimental to the public interest, courts have the power to refuse it (see e.g. here). So-called public interest immunity is a hugely important topic, especially where the powers of public bodies are concerned. The issue very recently divided a very strong bench of the Federal Court of Appeal in […] Read more

I have posted previously about the Irish courts’ preference for a narrow approach to judicial review of administrative action. Another recent example is Walsh v. Revington, [2013] IEHC 408. This time, the judgment is useful as a means of throwing into contrast formal and deferential approaches to judicial review. A Canadian court, I suspect, would […] Read more

The Supreme Court of Canada has granted leave in National Gallery of Canada v. Canadian Artists’ Representation, 2013 FCA 64. This has the potential to be a very interesting administrative law case. I think that the majority of the Federal Court of Appeal was wrong and hope that the Supreme Court will favour the approach […] Read more

I don’t want to add too much to the hubbub about the Charter of Values that Québec’s nationalist minority government ‘unveiled‘ yesterday. The basic idea is that religious neutrality is to be required in the public sphere (but there are numerous exceptions). I have a couple of administrative-law-related points.One thing that drew my attention yesterday […] Read more

Lorne Sossin and Jamie Baxter have posted on SSRN their paper on Ontario’s approach to reforming administrative justice: Claimants who come to administrative tribunals in Canada, as elsewhere, expecting a convenient forum to resolve their problems may discover that institutional resources and expertise, their own knowledge of the system, and their statutory entitlements and legal […] Read more

An interesting new paper by Michigan’s Nicholas Bagley: The presumption in favor of judicial review of agency action is a cornerstone of administrative law, accepted by courts and commentators alike as both legally appropriate and obviously desirable. Yet the presumption is puzzling. As with any canon of statutory construction that serves a substantive end, it […] Read more

Canadian courts have recently begun to recognize a “duty to consult” Aboriginal peoples in respect of government decisions that may affect their rights. Precisely when this duty is triggered, and against which organs of government, is an important question. In Hupacasath First Nation v. Canada (Foreign Affairs), 2013 FC 900, the claim was that the […] Read more

The power of courts to order interim remedies in judicial review proceedings was squarely in issue in Amalorpavanathan v. Ontario (Health and Long-Term Care), 2013 ONSC 4993. The subsequent decision on the merits (given orally: 2013 ONSC 5415) involved an interesting application of the doctrine of legitimate expectations.A group of physiotherapy clinics are to be […] Read more

Canadian administrative lawyers worry a lot about the standard of review. In many cases there is significant disagreement over whether the reasonableness standard or correctness standard should be applied. Occasionally, weary voices suggest that all this haggling over the standard of review is an unnecessary distraction from the merits of cases. An interesting perspective on […] Read more

Doping in sport is a scourge. Eradicating is not easy. The awards for successful doping are very high. Sporting organizations find themselves in a difficult position. Testing everyone and everything is not possible. And often, a plausible (though not necessarily truthful) excuse can be offered in defence of an athlete who has registered a positive […] Read more