The full Court of Appeal will not interfere with an order of a Single Lord Justice granting leave unless the applicant can show a factor not considered by the Lord Justice which would have the effect of rendering the appeal in respect of which leave has been given bound to fail. Examples are given in the judgment of such a factor.
Lord Donaldson of Lymington MR said: ‘If a Lord Justice of Appeal, having studied the matter on paper, is satisfied that there is an arguable case and grants leave, I think it would require some very cogent reasons for disagreeing with his decision and it would certainly not be a reason that the court who was asked to reconsider his decision did not itself think that the matter was arguable.
But the point I am making is that if one Lord Justice thinks an appeal is arguable, it is really necessary in my view for anybody seeking a reconsideration of that to be able to point fairly and unerringly to a factor which was not drawn to the Lord Justice’s attention because perhaps it did not feature in the documents which had been studied or to the fact that he has overlooked some statutory provision which is decisive or some authority which is decisive, in the sense that the appeal will inevitably fail. That is really what leave to appeal is directed at – screening out appeals which inevitably fail.’
Judges:
Lord Donaldson of Lymington MR
Citations:
[1990] 1 WLR 1115
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Nathan v Smilovitch and Another CA 13-May-2002
Application to set aside leave to appeal.
Held: It is a rare case in which, once permission to appeal has been granted it is appropriate to set it aside. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Litigation Practice
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.187196