The committee of a club, being a quasi-judicial tribunal, are bound, in proceeding under their rules against a member of the club for alleged misconduct, to act according to the ordinary principles of justice, and are not to convict him of an offence warranting his expulsion from the club without giving him due notice of their intention to proceed against’ him, and affording him an opportunity of defending or palliating his conduct: and the Court will, at the instance of any member so proceeded against, declare any resolution passed by the committee without previous notice to him, based upon ex parte evidence and purporting to expel him from the club, to be null and void, and will restrain the committee by injunction from interfering, by virtue of such a resolution, with his rights of membership.
Lord Jessel MR, said ‘clubs, or by any other body of persons who decide upon the conduct of ordinary rules by which justice should be administered by committees of the Committee: They ought not, as I understand it, according to the others, to blast a man’s reputation for ever – perhaps to ruin his prospects for life, without giving him an opportunity of either defending or palliating his conduct ‘
Lord Jessel MR
(1879) 11 Ch D 353, [1878] UKLawRpCh 301;
Commonlii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Ridge v Baldwin (No 1) HL 14-Mar-1963
No Condemnation Without Opportunity For Defence
Ridge, a Chief Constable, had been wrongfully dismissed because he was not given the opportunity of presenting his defence. He had been acquitted of the charges brought against him, but the judge at trial had made adverse comments about his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 10 October 2021; Ref: scu.653099