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15 Liverpool L. Rev. 3 (1993)

handle is hein.journals/lvplr15 and id is 1 raw text is: The Liverpool Law Review Vol. XV(1) [1993 ENGLISH ADMINISTRATIVE LAW: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE The Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Glidewell At one time when I was asked to speak about Administrative Law I gave my talk the title English Administrative Law comes of Age. I first used this heading over ten years ago, and when I came to prepare some notes for this address I realised that the stripling must now be over 30. So today I have chosen to speak about English Admin- istrative Law - past, present and future. Choosing this as my sub- ject, however, immediately poses the question - when did the past end and the present begin? This question I answer, in or about 1980. There are two reasons for choosing this date. The first and major reason so far a substantive law is concerned is that by that date the major decisions of the courts which are the foundations of modern administrative law had been made. There have been many important decisions since then, but they mostly stem from, or are extensions of, the principles laid down in the years preceding 1980. The second reason is that on 1 January 1981 the procedure by which the courts now deal with Judicial Review - application for leave to a single judge, on paper and/or by oral argument, and sub- stantive hearing also usually, that is, save in the larger or more com- plex cases, before a single judge - came into force. Without this change, the explosion of Judicial Review by the courts, and the conse- quent development of administrative law could not have taken place. The fact that I became a High Court Judge in 1980, and have thus been involved in Judicial Review since January 1981, is of course a co- incidence, not a third reason. The Past When I first started to read Law at University, one of the first subjects we studied was Constitutional Law. This was perhaps an unduly sophisticated subject with which to start, but in retrospect it may in part explain my present interest in Administrative Law. One of our main textbooks was the then current edition of Dicey's Law of