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Pros And Cons Of Judicial Review

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Judicial review is defined as the procedure where a court is able to review an individual or organisation(s) appeal who feel that they have been a victim of prejudice and where individuals can challenge a decision made. A judge can then review the legitimacy of a decision made by a public body, where it can be disputed that it challenges the way a decision was made. Therefore, judicial review is simply concerned with whether the right laws were applied to the right cases and situations, thus being a powerful way to make the public body alter a previous decision made. Over the past few year’s, judicial review has been seen as an area of growth in the legal system and so this essay will focus on whether judicial review is a positive or negative …show more content…

Judicial review, as the words imply, is not an appeal from a decision, but a review of the manner in which the decision was made.”1 Taking this definition into consideration, judicial review is simply concerned with how a decision came to place and what the process was, if by any means an individual feels they have been dealt with in an unreasonable manner can they try and apply for a judicial review. If a person is unhappy with a judge made decision on their case, they may be able to appeal against the conclusion in a higher court. Before the process can begin, the individual has to undertake legal advice which includes information about the procedure and financial aspects. An appeal is then lodged to the courts whereby the process begins. The increased role of human rights law has a wider contribution to the number of claims for judicial review, which have increased in number, although it is not as common as those in the …show more content…

For example, politician Peter Mallinson believes “a judicial review into the council’s mental health funding could simply be a waste of resources”3 Therefore some argue that instead of proceeding with a judicial review, it is better to settle things with the socials themselves to avoid both cost and time. Another example is a case which also presents how judicial review can be a lengthy process for both the government and the individuals involved, not only that but it also challenges the decisions made on something as complex as murder. The case of “Paul Alexander Cleeland v Criminal Review Commission”4 is one example of how time consuming a judicial review case can be. Dating back to 2002 the case was ongoing even in 2009, where the claimant was seeking a fresh decision on a criminal conviction case and hence why some individuals may believe that judicial reviews threaten the government by allowing people to challenge the way a decision is made, even on more complex cases such as this one. The claimant who was of 66 year’s age seeks judicial review for a murder case to the court of appeal which was refused on 29th April 2008. However, the history of this case had been a long and difficult procedure dating back to February 2002 where the court of appeal had originally dismissed the appeal, the claimant later made another representation which was

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