Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Judicial review definition

What does Judicial review mean? Judicial review is the court process used to challenge the lawfulness of decisions, actions or omissions of public bodies (such as ministers, local authorities, regulators and tribunals), rather than to reconsider the merits. It is a supervisory jurisdiction developed mainly through case law, with procedural rules set by legislation and court rules. Across the UK and Ireland, typical grounds include illegality (error of law, acting beyond powers), irrationality/unreasonableness, procedural unfairness (including breach of natural justice and legitimate expectation), and, where engaged, proportionality under the European Convention on Human Rights. Common remedies are quashing, prohibiting and mandatory orders, declarations and injunctions; damages...

UK Immigration Judicial Review: Reviewable Decisions, Key Grounds including Illegality, Legitimate Expectation, Fairness, Proportionality, Certification, Tribunal Challenges, Remedies and Damages

Published by a LexisNexis Immigration expert

Practice notes

Judicial review

In essence, any administrative ruling about a person’s immigration status or nationality can be contested, on orthodox public law grounds, by way of judicial review when no other remedy is available. Judicial review denotes the mechanism through which judges of the Administrative Court—within the King’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice—and, from 1 November 2013, the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), determine the legality of public bodies’ acts or omissions, and supervise inferior courts and tribunals. In Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service, Lord Diplock observed that: ‘Judicial review…provides the means by which judicial control of administrative action is exercised.’ Its role in immigration matters is particularly pronounced, since most decisions no longer carry a right of appeal, leaving judicial review oversight as the sole legal remedy. In O’Reilly v Mackman the process received a warm judicial welcome: Lord Denning called it ‘a lion’, the ‘normal resource in all cases of public law’, to be approached in a ‘wide and liberal spirit’. The contemporary position, however, is markedly different...

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Daniel Hayes

D Hayes Public Law Practice

I am a solicitor advocate, and my expertise is in immigration and public law, court processes and procedure. I have appeared in over 2500 court hearings as an advocate, and managed over 700 judicial reviews as a solicitor, gaining expertise over thirteen years. I have conducted significant and prolific cases in the Tribunals, the High Court and Court of Appeal. Key cases include: PK (Ghana), R (On the Application Of) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 98 on trafficking policy; Caroopen & Myrie v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWCA Civ 1307 on the nature of supplementary decisions in judicial review claims Secretary of State for the Home Department v Shehzad & Anor [2016] EWCA Civ 615 – on the treatment of evidence at judicial review and the jurisdiction to appeal Tribunal...

Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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