The Gazette 1973

to restrictive agreements in other countries.

Enough has been said to show that this will remain

the leading textbook on European Commercial Law

for many years. Like all French textbooks, it is written

with clarity and precision, and practitioners who wish

to master this intricate subject which is now Irish law

could not do better than to study it.

Jackson (Paul)—Natural Justice. 8vo; pp. xiii, 88; Lon-

don, Sweet & Maxwell, 1973; £1.50 (Modern Legal

Studies Series).

Mr. Jackson is now a Senior Law Lecturer in Briming-

ham, but he started his academic career in Trinity

College, Dublin, and one would consequently have

expected him to be well acquainted with Irish cases on

this subject. Unfortunately, he has disappointed us, by

not referring to Mr. Justice Walsh's definition of

"Constitutional Justice" in

McDonald v Bord na gCon

(165) I.R. 217, and by not stressing how much more

important natural justice is in countries which have

written constitutions. However, Mr. Jackson has assem-

bled all the recent English cases on the subject, starting

with

Ridge v Baldwin

(1963) which held that the police

watch committee was under a duty to observe the rules

of natural justice by giving a right of hearing to the

Chief Constable of Brighton before dismissing him.

In re Godden

(1971) 3 A.E.R., the Court of Appeal

held that the doctor of a police inspector was entitled

to see the reports and information communicated by

the local police authority to the police doctor who was

to examine him to see whether he was unfit for work.

In Pett v Greyhound Racing Association

(1969) 1 Q.B.

125, the Court of Appeal granted an interlocutary

injunction to restrain the defendants from holding an

inquiry into the running of Pett's greyhounds unless he

was allowed to appear and be legally represented.

I n

Hannam v Bradford Corporation

(1970) I.W.L.R., the

plaintiff schoolmaster, who had been dismissed by the

school governors, would, according to the Court of

Appeal, have won his case if he had pleaded bias

instead of relying on wrongful dismissal.

In Pergamon

Press

(1971) Ch. 388, the Court of Appeal held that

inspectors conducting an inquiry under the Companies

Act must act fairly—the directors must be given a

hearing, but that did not entitle them to cross-examine

witnesses. It is to be noted that in similar cases, the

French Conseil d'Etat would award damages if it con-

sidered that the circumstances warranted it. English

law apparently has decided that natural justice is

restricted when applied to cases concerning university

examiners, and disciplinary committees of trade unions

and architects, the decision in

O'Farrell and Gorman

(1960) I.R. 239, suggests that natural justice would be

strictly observed here; this is reinforced by the Supreme

Court decision in

Paraic Haughey

(1971) I.R. Lord

Denning applied the rules of natural justice in

Edwards

v S.O.G.A.T.

(1971) Ch. 354, when, in a case of expul-

sion of a member from a trade union, he denied that

"a union can give itself by its rules an unfiltered discre-

tion to expel a man or to withdraw his membership".

Yet taxpayers have been refused the right to appear

before a tribunal in tax cases—an unlikely development

here.

In Glynn v Keele University

(1971) I.W.L.R.,

Pennycuick V.C. while holding that a decision of exclu-

sion from a university campus could only be made

after a proper hearing, also held that the Court had no

control over the quasi injunction. These few examples

show that Mr. Jackson has delved deeply into recent

English case law on natural justice, but a deep com-

parative study of American and Commonwealth cases

would have enriched his material very much.

De Smith (S. A.)—Judicial Review of Administrative

Action. Third edition; 8vo; pp. xlix, 549; London,

Stevens, 1973; £7.25.

Professor De Smith frankly admits that, in preparing a

new edition of his

magnum opus,

he was faced with

various difficulties. Space considerations compelled him

to limit the new case-law in Commonwealth jurisdic-

tions, but this was offset by excellent English decisions,

such as

Anisminic and Padfield.

While no fundamental

changes in arrangement, in comparison with the first

edition of 1959, and the second edition of 1968, have

been made, yet the first chapter, which deals with "The

Place of Judicial Review in Administrative Law" has

been considerably expanded, as this edition has been

enlarged by more than 60 pages compared to the first

edition. Here the author stresses the fundamental fact

that administrative courts should apply substantive and

procedural rules distinct from the ordinary law, which

fact is unfortunately not recognised in the Irish Consti-

tution, save on a very limited basis; furthermore, admin-

istrative decisions here are sporadic and often peripheral,

and it is thus not possible to evolve a coherent body of

decisions on administrative law. The learned author

talks of the administrative law system of England as

"an ensymetrical hotch-potch" and the same term could

be applied with more vigour in Ireland; this is largely

due to Dicey's view that every person is subject to the

ordinary law, and to the conservative insularity of

Englishmen; fortunately recently the role of the Courts

in administrative matters appears to have become more

active and creative, largely due to an increase in aware-

ness of the impressive performance of Courts, in the

United States, France and some Commonwealth coun-

tries. The 1971 Report of Justice has been the most

radical document to demand administrative reform.

Whereas French administrative law can be expounded

with perfect order, Irish administrative law is essentially

untidy and

hoc,

for there is no uniformity in the

scope of review permissible in appeals to the Courts,

unless constitutional arguments are raised. On the other

hand, Irish Courts can award a rich variety of remedies

—prohibition,

mandamus, certiorari,

declaration, etc.—

not available to foreign Courts—but these remedies are

usually very complex and technical. Furthermore the

Superior Courts will seldom review administrative find-

ings of fact—and many claims such as those for wong-

ful dismissal*of civil servants, which could be enter-

tained abroad, are unlikely to succeed here. But the

main complaint was that the secretiveness of central

administration was on the whole legitimised by the

judiciary. Fortunately, here, as well as in England, the

Courts are increasingly disinclined to interpret statutes

as giving Ministers conclusive power to determine the

limits of their own powers. The learned author in his

own inimitable fashion has discussed all these problems

in a masterful way, and the depth and erudition dis-

played by him makes this volume a most readable book

in elaborating these very difficult problems. This vol-

ume is essential reading to all practitioners who wish to

grasp the principles of judicial review.

214