Legitimate Expectation in UK Law

Leading Cases
  • R (Niazi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; R (Bhatt Murphy (A Firm) and Others v Independent Assessor
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 09 Julio 2008

  • R (Nadarajah) v Secretary of State for the Home Department
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 22 Noviembre 2005

    Where a public authority has issued a promise or adopted a practice which represents how it proposes to act in a given area, the law will require the promise or practice to be honoured unless there is good reason not to do so. I would prefer to express it rather more broadly as a requirement of good administration, by which public bodies ought to deal straightforwardly and consistently with the public.

    This approach makes no distinction between procedural and substantive expectations. All these considerations, whatever their direction, are pointers not rules. The balance between an individual's fair treatment in particular circumstances, and the vindication of other ends having a proper claim on the public interest (which is the essential dilemma posed by the law of legitimate expectation) is not precisely calculable, its measurement not exact.

  • Re Findlay
    • House of Lords
    • 15 Noviembre 1984

    Given the substance and purpose of the legislative provisions governing parole, the most that a convicted prisoner can legitimately expect is that his case will be examined individually in the light of whatever policy the Secretary of State sees fit to adopt provided always that the adopted policy is a lawful exercise of the discretion conferred upon him by the statute.

  • Paponette and Others v Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago
    • Privy Council
    • 13 Diciembre 2010

  • R (Bibi and Another) v Newham London Borough Council
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 26 Abril 2001

    In all legitimate expectation cases, whether substantive or procedural, three practical questions arise. The first question is to what has the public authority, whether by practice or by promise, committed itself; the second is whether the authority has acted or proposes to act unlawfully in relation to its commitment; the third is what the court should do.

  • R (Bancoult) v Foreign Secretary (No 2)
    • House of Lords
    • 22 Octubre 2008

    It is not essential that the applicant should have relied upon the promise to his detriment, although this is a relevant consideration in deciding whether the adoption of a policy in conflict with the promise would be an abuse of power and such a change of policy may be justified in the public interest, particularly in the area of what Laws LJ called "the macro-political field": see R v Secretary of State for Education and Employment, Ex p Begbie [2000] 1 WLR 1115, 1131.

See all results
Legislation
  • Enterprise Act 2002
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 de Enero de 2002
    ... ... 1 (1.4.2014) by The Enterprise Act 2002 (Protection of Legitimate Interests) (Amendment) Order 2014 (S.I. 2014/891), arts. 1, 16 (with arts ... of the bankruptcy, a debt which the bankrupt had no reasonable expectation of being able to pay;(i) failing to account satisfactorily to the court, ... ...
  • Product Liability (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2001
    • Northern Ireland
    • 1 de Enero de 2001
  • Communications Act 2003
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 de Enero de 2003
    ... ... and radio services of a particular description;(c) the likely expectation of the audience as to the nature of a programme’s content and the extent ... limited control over such communications;(f) the rights and legitimate interests at stake, including those of the person providing the ... ...
  • Data Protection Act 2018
    • UK Non-devolved
    • 1 de Enero de 2018
    ... ... to safeguards for the data subject's rights, freedoms and legitimate interests) ... (2) A decision is a “significant decision” for the ... —(a) which was provided by the data subject in the expectation that it would not be disclosed to the person making the request,(b) which ... ...
See all results
Books & Journal Articles
  • Legitimate Expectation and Social Security Law Under the European Convention of Human Rights
    • No. 23-1, March 2021
    • European Journal of Social Security
    • 0000
    The concept of ‘legitimate expectation’ is one which has developed to different degrees in the domestic laws of contracting states of the Council of Europe. The European Court of Human Rights tends...
  • Could banning virtual assets be a breach of the doctrine of legitimate expectation?
    • No. 25-4, October 2022
    • Journal of Money Laundering Control
    • 0000
    Purpose: This paper aims to examine the validity of a state’s prohibition on virtual assets in the context of its global commitment to battle against money laundering. Design/methodology/approach:...
  • Increasing Pension Ages in Greece and Ireland: A Question of Legitimate Expectations
    • No. 16-3, September 2014
    • European Journal of Social Security
    • 0000
    This paper examines the changes to pension ages in Greece and Ireland precipitated by the global financial crisis and introduced as a result of the Greek and Irish bail-outs. The paper analyses whe...
    ... ... e paper analyses whether pensioners in the two jurisdictions had a legitimate expectation that such changes would not occur or whether they had a legitimate expectation that such changes would not be introduced without transitional ... ...
  • Her treatment at and around the meeting was deplorable: might safeguarding itself constitute abuse?
    • No. 15-2, April 2013
    • The Journal of Adult Protection
    • 96-106
    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report and analyse a recent case, in which the safeguarding procedure adopted by one local authority was criticised by the High Court. It also seeks to iden...
    ... ... unlawfully,in a manner that breached natural justice and a legitimate expectation to which it had itself given rise.The case raises a number of ... ...
See all results
Law Firm Commentaries
See all results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT