In the opening post in this series I described the traditional position in relation to reasonableness review. Here I describe the significant changes that have occurred over the last couple of decades… For all the tenacity of Wednesbury, it has been gradually displaced over the years, around the common law world. I addressed this point ..read more

In Société des casinos du Québec inc. v. Association des cadres de la Société des casinos du Québec, 2024 SCC 13 the Supreme Court of Canada dealt with a number of important issues that are significant for the law of judicial review of administrative action and for regulation more broadly. I previewed the case in ..read more

I am working on a paper on the concept of responsive reasons in administrative law. I will be posting bits and pieces over the next week or so. Here is the opening section on the traditional position, from which we are moving away… Reasonableness in administrative law has a long and storied history. For common ..read more

Regular readers will be aware that the standard of review of regulations has been a contentious point in Canadian public law for some time now (see e.g. here). Next week, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the appeals from the decisions of the Alberta Court of Appeal in Auer v Auer, 2022 ABCA 375 ..read more

As I have mentioned in a couple of posts, I have agreed to take the baton from the great David Mullan in providing readers of the Energy Regulation Quarterly with an annual review of administrative law. The text has now been published and can be accessed here in web format and also in PDF. I ..read more

This year’s Administrative Law and Governance Colloquium on “Executive Power” has drawn to an end. Here are the recordings of each session. Robert Craig (Bristol) on “Crown Powers”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq-2t0fI7kM Peter Shane (NYU) on “Presidential Powers”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwhukpXcuWQ Philippe Lagassé (Carleton) on “Prerogative Powers”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkmbEjsCe-Q Ariane Vidal-Naquet (Marseille) on “Executive Responsibility in Comparative Perspective”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6Z3rU0Ny2s   Thanks ..read more

Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65 is closing in on 10,000 mentions in subsequent cases.    After five-or-so years the basic concepts have been very well explained and are widely understood. Nonetheless, every now and then I come across a passage that is particularly evocative.    The following contribution by ..read more

On Wednesday of this week, Professor Ariane Vidal-Naquet will be joining me on the Administrative Law & Governance Colloquium. Professor Vidal-Naquet will be discussing her contribution to Comparative Executive Power in Europe: Perspectives on Accountability from Law, History and Political Science (Routledge, 2023). Her deep knowledge of executive power in Europe will complement the previous ..read more

On Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its much-anticipated decision in Yatar v TD Insurance Meloche Monnex, 2024 SCC 8. As expected (by me at any rate), the Court reversed the approach below and (correctly, in my view) described the role of discretion in judicial review proceedings. In reasons written by Rowe J ..read more

Tomorrow, Professor Philippe Lagassé (Carleton) will be joining me on the Administrative Law & Governance Colloquium, on the subject of prerogative powers. Professor Lagassé will be discussing a draft manuscript based on research done under a large grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. He will offer some arresting conclusions about similarities in ..read more