Prerogative remedies are only available to impugn a decision of a tribunal which is performing a public duty. Judicial review is not applicable in a strict master and servant relationship based on private contract of employment as there is no element of public law involved. Woolf J stressed that there should be no automatic intervention by a civil court to stay other proceedings, and there is no general inhibition upon an employer dismissing an employee in relation to conduct which is also the subject of incomplete criminal proceedings. While the court must have jurisdiction to intervene to prevent serious injustice occurring, it will only do so in very clear cases in which the applicant can show that there is a real danger and not merely notional danger that there would be a miscarriage of justice in criminal proceedings if the court did not intervene.
An employer may by his contract of employment fetter his right to determine the contract by notice or summarily. There ought not be be and there is no longer a fixed rule against specific performance of an employment contract.
Judges:
Woolf J
Citations:
[1983] 1 WLR 23, [1983] 1 All ER 241, [1983] ICR 99
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Regina (on the Application on Denis James Galligan) v the Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford Admn 22-Nov-2001
The applicant was director of the institute for socio-legal studies in Oxford. He made a decision to exclude a lecturer, and now challenged a decision by the University to set up an external enquiry into his decision, after an earlier decision to . .
Cited – Regina (Tucker) v Director General of the National Crime Squad CA 17-Jan-2003
The applicant was a senior officer seconded to the National Crime Squad. He complained that his secondment had been terminated in a manner which was unfair, and left him tainted without opportunity to reply. He appealed against rejection of his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Media, Judicial Review, Employment
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.183142