The nature of judicial review

I. The nature of judicial review

Judicial review is the exercise of supervisory jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance over acts (or omission / refusal to act) of public bodies, such as a variety of tribunals or governmental departments.  In doing so, the Court will consider whether any grounds for judicial review can be made out. Judicial review plays an essential part in the maintenance of the rule of law, while also promoting public interest, and guiding and ensuring the legality and good administration of public bodies.

In general, judicial review is different from a civil appeal.  In an appeal, the Court is concerned with the merits of a decision.  The right of appeal is always statutory.  The procedure is prescribed by the relevant provision in the High Court Ordinance (Cap. 4) or the Court of Final Appeal Ordinance (Cap. 484) and subsidiary regulation thereunder. 

On judicial review, the Court, in the exercise of its supervisory jurisdiction, is only concerned with whether the decision is lawful or unlawful in the public law sense, and the Court will normally not be concerned with the merits of the decision.  Different from civil appeal, the right to initiate an application for judicial review is inherent in common law. The procedure is prescribed by Order 53 of the Rules of the High Court (Cap. 4A).