Administrative Justice in Context: Mapping the Terrain for Further Study
| Author | Richard Kirkham |
| Date | 01 July 2011 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.2011.00864.x |
| Published date | 01 July 2011 |
REVIEWARTICLE
Administrative Justice in Context: Mapping the
Terrain for Further Study
Richard Kirkham
n
Michael Adler (ed), AdministrativeJustice in Context, Oxford:Hart Publishi ng, 2010,
515 pp, h b d50.00.
Administrative Justice in Context, edited by Professor Michael Adler, is a timely
contribution to the public law literature. The book presents, as this review goes
on to argue, an incomplete analysis of administrative justice. Nonetheless, if the
purpose of academ icw riting is to provoke thought and inspire new ways of look-
ing at a subject, the book is an undoubt ed success.Within its chapters, which range
from‘deep’theory to a root-and-branch critique of existing administrative justice
arrangements, there is enough academic food for thought to keep scholars busy
for years to come.
Part of the book’s strength derives from the editor’s aspiration to do what few
writers have attempted, namely to provide a synoptic overview of administrative
justice. Indeed, although the titl eof the book is AdministrativeJustice in Context,the
title of Adler’s introduction, ‘Administrative Justice in the UK Emerges from the
Shadows’, is more revealing. There is of course a long heritage of academic work
on administrative law,
1
but Adler’spoint is that research onthe broader conceptof
administrative justice has been much more limited, with the result that adminis-
trative justice as a discipline has not been given equal recognition (xv).Oneofthe
purposes of this book is to highlight the ways in which administrative justice
should be, and is becoming, a central theme within academic study.
Notwithstanding Adler’s criticisms, recent work on administrative lawand jus-
tice suggests that the discipline is no longer the poor relation of constitutional law.
Although standard tex tbooks still focus on the principles of administrative law,
and the Human Rights Act has become the dominant theme in legal study, there
is now a diverse collection of researchers exploring variousmechanisms by which
public power is exercisedand grievances handled. Moreover, this research has had
to keep pace with the output of a widening range of practitionersworking in the
area. Alongside th e familiar cohort of lawyers working in public law,the tribunal
branchof the Courts andTribunal Serviceemploys in excess of 2,500 people,
2
the
n
School of Law, University of She⁄eld. I am grateful to the participants in a seminar organised by
Mary Seneviratne atthe 2010 Socio-LegalStudies conference, University of Westof England, at which
an earlier version of this paper was presented and the book discussed and, for the comments on an
earlier draft of this article, PaulJames Cardwell,Tammy Hervey and especially the anonymousreferee.
1For an account of someof the work in this area, see C. Harlow and R. Rawlings, Law and Adminis-
tration(Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 3
rd
2Tribunals Service, AnnualReport and Accounts2009-10 HC 239 (2009^10)32.
r2011The Author.The Modern Law Review r2011 The ModernLaw Review Limited.
Published by BlackwellPublishing, 9600 Garsington Road,Oxford OX4 2DQ,UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA
(2011) 74(4) 617^630
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