Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

authorities definition

What does authorities mean? Authorities are the legal sources a lawyer relies on to justify a proposition of law in submissions, skeleton arguments and judgments. The term is descriptive and widely used across England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, rather than being defined by statute. Authorities typically include: primary legislation and subordinate legislation; binding appellate case law within the relevant jurisdiction; and, as persuasive material, decisions from other UK or foreign courts, tribunal rulings, EU and ECHR jurisprudence where applicable, and reputable academic commentary. In Scotland, the writings of the institutional writers (e.g. Stair, Erskine, Bell) may carry particular weight. Textbooks and...

UK Public Inquiries: Inquiries Act 2005 framework, ministerial powers, procedure, evidence, reports and warning letters, judicial review, ECHR investigative duties, non-statutory inquiries and reform

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Practice notes

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Purpose and aims of public inquiries

Public inquiries are typically convened to scrutinise, in depth, events that trigger widespread concern. They fall into two broad categories:

statutory inquiries—constituted under the Inquiries Act 2005 (IA 2005) or other statutory powers available to Parliamentary Commissioners, local authorities, regulators and similar bodies, and
non-statutory inquiries—such as those initiated under the royal prerogative to form a Royal Commission

Section 44(4) of the IA 2005 expressly preserves the Sovereign’s ability to establish a Royal Commission, and also safeguards any power of a Minister or other person—whether arising from statute or otherwise—to institute an inquiry outside the framework of the Act.

Depending on the applicable procedure, inquiry hearings may proceed in public or in private. Lord Justice Salmon, who chaired the 1966 Royal Commission on Tribunals of Inquiry, remarked that secrecy tends to swell the volume of evidence while diminishing its reliability (Royal Commission on Tribunals of Inquiry, 1966 Cmnd 3121, not reported by LexisNexis®).

This Practice Note primarily addresses statutory inquiries under the IA 2005 before offering a brief overview of non-statutory inquiries...

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Jim Duffy

1COR

Jim Duffy’s practice spans clinical negligence, inquests and inquiries, personal injury, human rights and employment.He is a member of the Attorney General’s ‘C’ Panel of Counsel and has particular experience of prison law claims, acting on both sides. He regularly advises in cases involving parole board decisions, security categorisations, and personal injury claims brought in a prison context. In 2013-14 Jim acted as Judicial Assistant to Lord Reed and Lord Hodge at the UK Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Jim regularly acts for families, NHS Trusts, doctors and patients in clinical negligence claims. In July 2018, Jim was led by Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel QC for the appellant children in CN & GN v. Poole Borough Council. The Supreme Court considered whether and in what circumstances local authorities might owe a duty at common law to children at risk of...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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