Chapter 13

Formal investigations set up on an ad hoc basis to investigate specific incidents. Their role is fact-finding.

The principle that courts are bound by the previous decisions of the same, or superior, courts. A decision can be binding, which means that the court must follow it, or (if it is a decision of, for example, the Privy Council) it can be persuasive, in which case it should be considered, but need not necessarily be followed.

This occurs when a member of the public, a concerned body or a pressure group challenges a decision of a government minister in the Administrative Court of the High Court (Divisional Court of the Queen’s Bench Division) in the hope of obtaining a remedy. It shows the separation of powers in action, with judges keeping a check on executive power.