The Gazette 1973

to restrictive agreements in other countries. Enough has been said to show that this will remain the leading textbook on European Commercial Law for many years. Like all French textbooks, it is written with clarity and precision, and practitioners who wish to master this intricate subject which is now Irish law could not do better than to study it. Jackson (Paul)—Natural Justice. 8vo; pp. xiii, 88; Lon- don, Sweet & Maxwell, 1973; £1.50 (Modern Legal Studies Series). Mr. Jackson is now a Senior Law Lecturer in Briming- ham, but he started his academic career in Trinity College, Dublin, and one would consequently have expected him to be well acquainted with Irish cases on this subject. Unfortunately, he has disappointed us, by not referring to Mr. Justice Walsh's definition of "Constitutional Justice" in McDonald v Bord na gCon (165) I.R. 217, and by not stressing how much more important natural justice is in countries which have written constitutions. However, Mr. Jackson has assem- bled all the recent English cases on the subject, starting with Ridge v Baldwin (1963) which held that the police watch committee was under a duty to observe the rules of natural justice by giving a right of hearing to the Chief Constable of Brighton before dismissing him. In re Godden (1971) 3 A.E.R., the Court of Appeal held that the doctor of a police inspector was entitled to see the reports and information communicated by the local police authority to the police doctor who was to examine him to see whether he was unfit for work. In Pett v Greyhound Racing Association (1969) 1 Q.B. 125, the Court of Appeal granted an interlocutary injunction to restrain the defendants from holding an inquiry into the running of Pett's greyhounds unless he was allowed to appear and be legally represented. I n Hannam v Bradford Corporation (1970) I.W.L.R., the plaintiff schoolmaster, who had been dismissed by the school governors, would, according to the Court of Appeal, have won his case if he had pleaded bias instead of relying on wrongful dismissal. In Pergamon Press (1971) Ch. 388, the Court of Appeal held that inspectors conducting an inquiry under the Companies Act must act fairly—the directors must be given a hearing, but that did not entitle them to cross-examine witnesses. It is to be noted that in similar cases, the French Conseil d'Etat would award damages if it con- sidered that the circumstances warranted it. English law apparently has decided that natural justice is restricted when applied to cases concerning university examiners, and disciplinary committees of trade unions and architects, the decision in O'Farrell and Gorman (1960) I.R. 239, suggests that natural justice would be strictly observed here; this is reinforced by the Supreme Court decision in Paraic Haughey (1971) I.R. Lord Denning applied the rules of natural justice in Edwards v S.O.G.A.T. (1971) Ch. 354, when, in a case of expul- sion of a member from a trade union, he denied that "a union can give itself by its rules an unfiltered discre- tion to expel a man or to withdraw his membership". Yet taxpayers have been refused the right to appear before a tribunal in tax cases—an unlikely development here. In Glynn v Keele University (1971) I.W.L.R., Pennycuick V.C. while holding that a decision of exclu- sion from a university campus could only be made after a proper hearing, also held that the Court had no

control over the quasi injunction. These few examples show that Mr. Jackson has delved deeply into recent English case law on natural justice, but a deep com- parative study of American and Commonwealth cases would have enriched his material very much. De Smith (S. A.)—Judicial Review of Administrative Action. Third edition; 8vo; pp. xlix, 549; London, Stevens, 1973; £7.25. Professor De Smith frankly admits that, in preparing a new edition of his magnum opus, he was faced with various difficulties. Space considerations compelled him to limit the new case-law in Commonwealth jurisdic- tions, but this was offset by excellent English decisions, such as Anisminic and Padfield. While no fundamental changes in arrangement, in comparison with the first edition of 1959, and the second edition of 1968, have been made, yet the first chapter, which deals with "The Place of Judicial Review in Administrative Law" has been considerably expanded, as this edition has been enlarged by more than 60 pages compared to the first edition. Here the author stresses the fundamental fact that administrative courts should apply substantive and procedural rules distinct from the ordinary law, which fact is unfortunately not recognised in the Irish Consti- tution, save on a very limited basis; furthermore, admin- istrative decisions here are sporadic and often peripheral, and it is thus not possible to evolve a coherent body of decisions on administrative law. The learned author talks of the administrative law system of England as "an ensymetrical hotch-potch" and the same term could be applied with more vigour in Ireland; this is largely due to Dicey's view that every person is subject to the ordinary law, and to the conservative insularity of Englishmen; fortunately recently the role of the Courts in administrative matters appears to have become more active and creative, largely due to an increase in aware- ness of the impressive performance of Courts, in the United States, France and some Commonwealth coun- tries. The 1971 Report of Justice has been the most radical document to demand administrative reform. Whereas French administrative law can be expounded with perfect order, Irish administrative law is essentially untidy and ad hoc, for there is no uniformity in the scope of review permissible in appeals to the Courts, unless constitutional arguments are raised. On the other hand, Irish Courts can award a rich variety of remedies —prohibition, mandamus, certiorari, declaration, etc.— not available to foreign Courts—but these remedies are usually very complex and technical. Furthermore the Superior Courts will seldom review administrative find- ings of fact—and many claims such as those for wong- ful dismissal*of civil servants, which could be enter- tained abroad, are unlikely to succeed here. But the main complaint was that the secretiveness of central administration was on the whole legitimised by the judiciary. Fortunately, here, as well as in England, the Courts are increasingly disinclined to interpret statutes as giving Ministers conclusive power to determine the limits of their own powers. The learned author in his own inimitable fashion has discussed all these problems in a masterful way, and the depth and erudition dis- played by him makes this volume a most readable book in elaborating these very difficult problems. This vol- ume is essential reading to all practitioners who wish to grasp the principles of judicial review. 214