Judicial Review in Northern Ireland

Book excerpt: This is the second edition of Hart's leading book on the principle and practice of judicial review in Northern Ireland. Providing a fully updated account of the ever-burgeoning body of case law, this book divides into eight chapters that consider the purposes of judicial review; the nature of the public-private divide in Northern Ireland law; the judicial review procedure; the grounds for review; and remedies. As with the first edition, the book focuses on case law that is unique to Northern Ireland, and the book identifies some important differences between principle and practice in Northern Ireland and England and Wales. It also considers the leading Human Rights Act decisions of the Northern Ireland courts and the House of Lords and UK Supreme Court. The book has been written primarily for practitioners of judicial review and uses numbered paragraphs for ease of reference. The book is, however, of much wider interest and is a valuable resource for academics and students alike. Much of the Northern Ireland case law has been concerned with contentious political issues, and the courts have had to consider difficult questions of the constitutional limits to the judicial role in review proceedings. The book should therefore be of use not just to practitioners but also to those involved in the study of judicial reasoning in different jurisdictions (both within the UK and elsewhere).