The Non-Identical Twins in UK Public Law: Reasonableness and Proportionality

Nehushtan, Yossi

doi:10.1017/S0021223716000261

The Non-Identical Twins in UK Public Law: Reasonableness and Proportionality

Nehushtan, Yossi

Authors

Professor Yosef Nehushtan y.nehushtan@keele.ac.uk

Abstract

Ever since the Wednesbury decision in 1947 UK courts and UK public law scholars have been struggling to comprehend the meaning of ‘reasonableness’ and its relation to ‘proportionality’. The main purpose of this article is to promote conceptual clarity in UK public law by describing the nature of reasonableness and proportionality as grounds of judicial review and by highlighting the overlooked similarities and differences between them. The main arguments of this article are that (1) reasonableness is in its essence a balancing and weighing test; (2) proportionality adds very little to already existing grounds of judicial review in UK public law; (3) this addition is not necessarily focused on the administrative weighing and balancing process; and (4) since proportionality adds very little to already existing grounds of judicial review, no conceptual or normative reason prevents having proportionality as a general ground of judicial review in UK public law.

Acceptance Date	Jul 27, 2016
Publication Date	Feb 9, 2017
Journal	Israel Law Review
Print ISSN	0021-2237
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Pages	69-86
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021223716000261
Keywords	reasonableness, proportionality, judicial review, public law
Publisher URL	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021223716000261