Legal Challenges To Government Decisions

[mushroom25]

Gina Miller strikes again...…
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/14/gina-miller-legal-action-block-no-deal-brexit-boris-johnson

leaving aside (for now) the rights or wrongs or Brexit -

how difficult will the business of government become if every contentious issue ends up having to be decided by the courts?

[Peter Pedant]

// I challenged the DWP over an issue in the courts a few years ago and won. //
well done AG

I hope you wrote to that sections accountant and said it was so obviously the wrong point being fought that this counts as a waste of public money - and he is responsible for seeing it is well spent ( value for money etc)

I did this and they changed the system ( I think ) - so that representations would actually be read before a hearing (!) hem hem. (yes they read the representation and jerked up a head and said - he's right! end of case)

[agchristie]

//I hope you wrote to that sections accountant and said it was so obviously the wrong point being fought that this counts as a waste of public money//

PP no, the said department were so intransigent despite all my protestations that I simply had no option to go to court.

The judge commented that he thought that I presented myself very well.

(I did want to win on more merit than how much leg was on show but a win is a win!

;-)

[Quizmonster]

A key point of the Brexiteers at the time of the referendum was, "We want to be guided by our own laws and justice system here!" Then, when our Supreme Court decided in favour of Gina Miller in her case against a government decision, there were howls of disapproval such as, "How dare our own justice system act against us?"
Clueless then...and now...by the looks of it!

[Old_Geezer]

Normal folk do want to be guided by their own laws and justice system and they also want those laws to be reasonable not counterproductive. Laws that are found to prevent a perfectly reasonable act by the government are likely in need of replacing, which is a sensible view to hold, no clues necessary.

[Quizmonster]

Fine, OG, if a law needs to be replaced, appropriate steps need to be taken to achieve that. Blazing headlines in the right-wing gutter-press that label judges as (quote) "enemies of the people" do not constitute an 'appropriate step'.

[New Judge]

//The Crown Proceedings Act 1947 (c. 44) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allowed, for the first time, civil actions against the Crown to be brought in the same way as against any other party.//

I think you should read that Act fairly closely, Peter. Prior to its introduction the monarch (or agents of the Crown) could not be pursued through the courts for damages under either contract or tort. This meant, without it, I could not have recovered my losses from the Queen when she almost collided with my car in Norfolk a few years back when she was driving a Range Rover half a mile from where the D of E had his encounter recently. It does not, however, say she can face legal action as a result of actions she takes as the constitutional monarch acting on the advice of her Ministers.