Silber J reviewed the authorities which consider the question of whether courts should entertain claims for relief in which the claimants have no interest.
Held: Academic issues cannot and should not be determined by courts unless there are exceptional circumstances such as where two conditions are satisfied in the type of application now before the courts. On the facts there were factors some of which were overlapping and which individually or cumulatively indicated that the claim should not be heard as it was academic. First, any decision on the facts of that case would be fact-sensitive; second since the duties of the claimants were not the same in the instant case and in all other potential cases the result in the instant case would not necessarily be the same in any other cases; third there was no certainty or even probability that other claims would be brought; fourth if there were subsequent claims other parties might wish to adduce evidence so that the court on a subsequent occasion would have to consider different material; fifth because any decision in the instant case would depend on assumed facts it would be unlikely to be determinative or of any value in subsequent proceedings; sixth because the factual situation in a subsequent case might be different a decision on the instant case would not constitute a precedent for future applications; seventh not all interested parties had been served with details of the amended claim; and eighth that the claim in that case was an academic one and there was, in the words of Lord Slynn in Salem no ‘good reason in the public interest’ for it to be determined by him.
However, it was desirable if not necessary gtto resolve the outstanding issues in case he was wrong on the academic issue and also because it might well be necessary for him to come to conclusions on the other issues when dealing with the question of costs.
Judges:
Silber J
Citations:
[2007] EWHC 2995 (Admin), [2008] ACD 44
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Licensing, Administrative
Updated: 05 December 2022; Ref: scu.262876
