Bradley v Jockey Club: QBD 2004

The former jockey sought an injunction to restrain the respondent enforcing a ban it had imposed on him from working as a jockey for five years. The defendant had previously been ruled authoritatively not to be amenable to judicial review in public law terms, and which operated as a regulator within the sport. The claim was put under the common law doctrine of restraint of trade on a non-contractual basis.
Held: After a careful review of the supervisory function of the respondent, the claim was dismissed. In looking at its task, ‘The function of the court is not to take the primary decision but to ensure that the primary decision-maker has operated within lawful limits . . the essential concern should be with the lawfulness of the decision taken: whether the procedure was fair, whether there was any error of law, whether any exercise of judgment or discretion fell within the limits open to the decision maker, and so forth . . .’ and ‘the issue in the present case is not one of procedural fairness but concerns the proportionality of the penalty imposed. To my mind, however, that underlines the importance of recognising that the court’s role is supervisory rather than that of a primary decision-maker. The test of proportionality requires the striking of a balance between competing considerations. The application of the test in the context of penalty will not necessarily produce just one right answer: there is no single ‘correct’ decision. Different decision-makers may come up with different answers, all of them reached in an entirely proper application of the test. In the context of the European Convention on Human Rights it is recognised that, in determining whether an interference with fundamental rights is justified and, in particular, whether it is proportionate, the decision-maker has a discretionary area of judgment or margin of discretion. The decision is unlawful only if it falls outside the limits of that discretionary area of judgment. Another way of expressing it is that the decision is unlawful only if it falls outside the range of reasonable responses to the question of where a fair balance lies between the conflicting interests’

Judges:

Richards J

Citations:

[2004] EWHC 2164 (QB)

Citing:

CitedModahl v British Athletic Federation Limited CA 28-Jul-1997
Lord Woolf MR said: ‘The question of whether a complaint about the conduct of a disciplinary committee gives rise to a remedy in public law or private law or is often difficult to determine. However the complaint in both cases would be based on an . .
CitedMcInnes v Onslow-Fane ChD 1978
The applicant had been granted a boxing manager’s licence for several years. He appealed its refusal now over a few years.
Held: The case was in the application for a licence rather than in a forfeiture or an expectation class, and there was . .

Cited by:

Appeal fromBradley v The Jockey Club CA 12-Jul-2005
The Jockey had been disqualified from riding for five years for breaches of the club’s rules. He said the punishment was disproportionate in effectively preventing him working for a living.
Held: The appeal failed, and the judge’s analysis was . .
CitedX, Regina (on the Application of) v Y School Admn 21-Feb-2007
The court was asked whether a school was entitled to refuse to allow a Muslim girl to wear the niqab full face veil at school. The reasons were ‘first educational factors resulting from a teacher being unable to see the face of the girl with a . .
CitedX, Regina (on the Application of) v Y School Admn 21-Feb-2007
The court was asked whether a school was entitled to refuse to allow a Muslim girl to wear the niqab full face veil at school. The reasons were ‘first educational factors resulting from a teacher being unable to see the face of the girl with a . .
AppliedChambers v British Olympic Association QBD 18-Jul-2008
The claimant, a former Olypmic sprinter had now competed a ban after being found to have taken banned drugs. He had returned to the sprort but now challenged the policy of the respondent not to allow for consideration of the Olympic team, athletes . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Administrative

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.228578