Judicial review is a procedure concerning the supervisory jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance of the High Court over administrative bodies and inferior courts. Administrative bodies refer to government departments and public bodies set up pursuant to certain ordinances.
The purpose of judicial review aims at allowing the Court to focus on finding any errors of the relevant decision-making process, instead of examining the merits of the administrative decision.
Two requirements have to be satisfied in order to raise a claim of judicial review. First, the administrative decision under review must affect public interest. The court will reject application for review if the subject decision only impairs the applicant’s own interest, or simply concerns a personal dispute between the applicant and the decision-maker in relation to a contract term.
Secondly, judicial review claims should normally be based on at least one of the following grounds:
- The decision was made by a person who does not have the relevant statutory authority.
- The decision was made under an improper or incorrect procedure (i.e. decision-maker failed to comply with procedural rules as written in a particular ordinance)
- The decision was unreasonably made (i.e. decision-maker failed to take into account relevant matter when making the decision)
Note: The aforementioned do not cover the substantive law of judicial review. You are advised to seek legal advice before commencing a legal action.
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