FLK1 · SQE1 module

Constitutional and Administrative Law

This subject covers the architecture of the state: parliamentary sovereignty, the rule of law, the separation of powers, and the grounds on which the courts will review executive decisions.

The examiners favour scenario questions that test whether a public body has acted lawfully, applying the three classic grounds of judicial review to a short fact pattern.

What this module covers

Every topic in Constitutional and Administrative Law, in the order the course teaches them. This is the whole syllabus for the module, not a selection.

Nature and Sources of the UK Constitution
Parliamentary Sovereignty
The Rule of Law
The Separation of Powers
Constitutional Conventions
The Crown and the Monarch
Parliament: House of Commons and the Legislative Process
Parliament: The House of Lords (2026 Composition)
The Executive
The Judiciary and the Supreme Court
The Royal Prerogative
Devolution and the Union State
Human Rights Act 1998: Convention Rights
Human Rights Act 1998: ss.2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 10 (Remedial Orders)
Judicial Review: Amenability, Procedure, Standing and Time Limits
Judicial Review: The Grounds
Judicial Review: Remedies
EU and Retained/Assimilated Law After Brexit
Parliamentary Privilege
Public Order Law
Discrimination: ECHR Article 14 and Equality Act 2010

A real question from this module

Answer it before you decide

FLK1 · Constitutional and Administrative Law

Question

A licensing authority refuses a taxi licence under a policy that automatically refuses any applicant with any past conviction, regardless of its nature or age, without considering the applicant’s individual circumstances. Which ground of judicial review does this raise?

AIllegality, because a rigid policy applied without exception unlawfully fetters the authority’s discretion

BIrrationality, because no reasonable authority could ever adopt a policy of this general kind

CProcedural impropriety, because the applicant was not given a chance to make oral representations

DProportionality, because the policy goes further than is necessary to protect public safety

ELegitimate expectation, because the applicant expected the authority to consider each case individually

Answer A

A public body may adopt a general policy for consistency, but unlawfully fetters its discretion, a form of illegality, if it applies that policy as a rigid rule and refuses to consider whether a case should be treated as an exception. Irrationality concerns a decision so unreasonable that no sensible authority could reach it on its merits, not the mere existence of a policy. Procedural impropriety concerns fairness of process, not the substance of the policy, and proportionality is not treated as a free-standing ground in an ordinary domestic judicial review claim of this kind.

British Oxygen Co Ltd v Minister of Technology [1971] AC 610 (unlawful fettering of discretion).

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