Overview

Among the many constitutional developments of the past century or so, one of the most significant has been the creation and proliferation of institutions that perform functions similar to those performed by courts but which are considered to be, and in some ways are, different and distinct from courts as traditionally conceived. In much of the common law world, such institutions are called 'administrative tribunals'. Their main function is to adjudicate disputes between citizens and the state by reviewing decisions of government agencies - a function also performed by courts in 'judicial review' proceedings and appeals. Although tribunals in aggregate adjudicate many more such disputes than courts, tribunals and their role as dispensers of 'administrative justice' receive relatively little scholarly attention. This wide-ranging book-length treatment of the subject compares tribunals in three major jurisdictions: Australia the UK and the US. It analyses and offers an account of the concept of 'administrative adjudication', and traces its historical development from the earliest periods of the common law to the twenty-first century. There are chapters dealing with the design of tribunals and tribunal systems and with what tribunals do, what they are for and how they interact with their users. The book ends with a discussion of the place of tribunals in the 'administrative justice system' and speculation about possible future developments. Administrative Tribunals and Adjudication fills a significant gap in the literature and will be of great value to public lawyers and others interested in government accountability.

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9781841130095

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Reviews

Professor Cane's excellent book helps to redress the lack of academic attention paid to administrative tribunals. This is an outstanding account of Australian tribunal adjudication and its place in the regime of administrative decision-making and law. The detailed and sophisticated use of comparative law analysis helps to understand the choices that have been taken in Australia, what some of the alternatives were (and are), and also the constraints that will continue to shape administrative adjudication. Edward Santow Public Law Review 2010 Issue 21 Cane presents a precise, richly detailed account of administrative organizations, grounded in an impressive survey of the administrative law literature and Cane's own observations ... Such a detailed account is valuable because, as Cane notes, there is not much literature outside of Australia about what administrative tribunals do Readers will come away impressed with the breadth of research that Cane has conducted on these tribunals and the care with which he details the differences among them. Robert J. Hume Law and Politics Book Review April 6, 2010 While tribunals and merits review of administrative decisions may often be discussed in academic and practitioner literature, they are rarely the subject of theoretical, comparative, and historical examination. Peter Cane takes up this challenge in this book. Although it has its origins in debates about Australian administrative law, Professor Cane's book has a far broader scope and will be on interest to administrative lawyers in each of the countries examined. It achieves an impressive combination of broad historical and comparative analysis and fine assessment of the details and complexities of merits review. It develops significant insights, such as the distinction between implementation and adjudication, which highlight the substantive characteristics of merit review. It should become a primary reference for scholars researching accountability institutions. Andrew Edgar Public Law July 2010 Administrative Tribunals and Adjudication is a work of considerable scholarship, which throws new light on an important set of institutions that have not hitherto received the attention they deserve. Michael Adler Journal of Law and Society Volume 37, Number 3, 2010

Author Information

Peter Cane is Distinguished Professor of Law at the Australian National University College of Law. His other publications include Administrative Law 4th edn (Oxford, OUP, 2004) and (with Leighton McDonald) Principles of Administrative Law: Legal Regulation of Government (Melbourne, OUP, 2008). He is a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

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