Leading Administrative Law Cases: M v The Home Office [1994] 1 AC 377
23 Pages Posted: 1 Oct 2016
Date Written: September 29, 2016
Abstract
One noteworthy aspect of the administration of justice in England is how little coercion is used, especially in litigation against public authorities. If a judge decides in favour of the claimant then it is taken for granted that that finding will take effect (subject to any appeal) and the authorities will obey the law as found by the judge. Every day in the Administrative Court one can thus see public authorities in all their multitudinous forms - Ministers of the Crown, local authorities, police forces, regulatory bodies, etc, etc - accepting without complaint or hesitation the discipline of the rule of law. Here one sees in operation Dicey’s principle that with us ‘...every official, from the Prime Minister down to a constable or a collector of taxes, is under the same responsibility for every act done without legal justification as any other citizen...’, but without any coercion.
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