Foreword from the First Edition
This important new work by Gordon Anthony will be of inestimable assistance to practitioners and academic commentators alike. It provides a magisterial review of developments in the field of judicial review in this jurisdiction, particularly since the coming into force in October 2000 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
One of its principal themes is the increasingly important constitutional dimension of judicial review. This is of particular significance in Northern Ireland because of the recent judicial recogniÂtion in cases decided in our courts—and, on appeal from our courts, by the House of Lords—of the special status of â€?constitutional statutes’. The analysis here will be of especial interest to those working in this area of the law.The book also provides invaluable guidance on the vexed question of when resort may properly be had to the still specialised remedy of judicial review; on the evolving but perennial issue of the nature of the review that courts may conduct of impugned decisions; on the juridical basis for the various species of judicial review challenges; and on the persistently difficult subject of the appropriate level of intensity of judicial scrutiny of discretionary choices. These and many other topics are handled with great authority and clarity.
Although the emphasis of the work is on academic analysis, it contains helpful practical guidance and it is certain that this will become an indispensable reference text for those practising in judicial review in this jurisdiction and elsewhere.
Rt Hon Sir Brian Kerr, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland