Hopkins and Another v Smethwick Local Board of Health: CA 1890

Willes J said: ‘In condemning a man to have his house pulled down, a judicial act is as much implied as in fining him pounds 5 ; and as the local board is the only tribunal that can make such an order its act must be a judicial act, and the party to be affected should have a notice given him. . . . The judgment of Willes, J. (in Cooper’s case) goes far more upon the nature of the thing done by the board than on the phraseology of the Act itself. It deals with the case on principle; from the nature of the thing done it must be a judicial act, and justice requires that the man should be heard’.
Held: On Appeal, judgment sustained.
Willes J, Lord Esher MR
(1890) 24 QBD 712, (1890) 59 LJQB 250, (1890) 62 LT 683, (1890) 54 JP 693, (1890) 38 WR 499, (1890) 6 TLR 280
England and Wales
Citing:
ApprovedCooper v Wandsworth Board of Works CCP 21-Apr-1863
A house owner had failed to give proper notice to the Board they had under an Act of 1855 authority to demolish any building he had erected and recover the cost from him. This action was brought against the Board because they had used that power . .

Cited by:
CitedRidge 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.653096