Irrationality

Question 1

Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation [1948]

Answer 1

Claimed issuing a restrictive licence for Sunday performances was unreasonable and irrational.
Lord Greene- courts cannot impose their own judgment on public authorities, just need to establish that they acted lawfully- if lawful then reasonable so irrationality and illegality link.
(Although there will be cases which are not illegal and are intra vires but still irrational)

Question 2

GCHQ Case [1984]

Answer 2

Lord Diplock restated Wednesbury- public body is irrational if it is “so outrageous in its defiance of logic or accepted moral standards”. Also made it clear that it stood on its own feet as a ground of review.

Question 3

Re Duffy [2008]

Answer 3

Irrational to appoint two hardline loyalists to parades commission of Northern Ireland. Responsible for disputes.

Question 4

R (Javed) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2001]

Answer 4

Unreasonable to class Pakistan as a country as a country with no serious risk of persecution. Overwhelming evidence of persecution of women.

Question 5

R (Rogers) v Swindon NHS Trust [2006]

Answer 5

Irrational to provide drugs for one individual but not to allow others any access to it. No logical way to differentiate between patients’ circumstances to deem it acceptable.

Question 6

R v Secretary of State for Education [2011]

Answer 6

Courts are reluctant to find a decision irrational if it has public funding and/or public resource allocation issues associated with it. Public funding= political issue rather than legal.
Not irrational.

Question 7

ex p Smith [1996]

Answer 7

Not irrational for homosexuals to not be allowed to serve in the armed services.