Bylawpedia
Judicial review is the name given to the legal process where a court of law reviews administrative decisions made by administrative decision makers, including quasi-judicial bodies or quasi-judicial officials. The purpose of the review is to ensure that the decision was within the legal authority of the decision maker and that it was reasonable and followed the principles of procedural fairness. If a decision maker is found by a court to not have done these things, then the decision made may be overturned (Justice Education Society, n.d.a; Moores, 2021).
Although it may superficially resemble an appeal, a judicial review is not the same thing as an appeal of a court decision. A court will show more deference to an administrative decisionmaker's decision when conducting a judicial review then they would to a decision of a lower court during an appeal. The rationale for this deference is that, if a law grants power to an official or tribunal to make administrative decisions, it is because lawmakers believe the officer or body is in the best position to make decisions on that matter, and therefore the courts should only intervene if there is a very clear problem (Moores, 2021).
In British Columbia, there are three different standards of review when a court is conducting a judicial review of a decision (Justice Education Society, n.d.b), those being:
Correctness: Under this standard, the court will assess whether it agrees that the decision maker made the correct decision. This is the most strict standard of review, with the highest possibility that the court might overturn the decision (Justice Education Society, n.d.b).
Reasonableness: This is the 'medium' standard of review, where a court will determine whether the decision under review is one that a reasonable person could have made. It is not important whether the court agrees that the decision is correct, only whether the court believes that a reasonable decisionmaker could have come to the same result (Justice Education Society, n.d.b).
Patent Unreasonableness: This is the most lenient standard of review, giving the most deference to the decision of a decisionmaker. It is similar to the reasonableness standard, but it requires the signs of unreasonableness to be even more obvious before a court will intervene (Justice Education Society, n.d.b).
The standard of review that applies will vary depending on the administrative decision that is being reviewed, but most are reviewed under either the reasonableness or patent unreasonableness standard (Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019; Justice Education Society, n.d.b). As an example, it is the reasonableness standard which applies to any judicial review of the decision of an adjudicator regarding a bylaw notice.
The Judicial Review Procedure Act in British Columbia sets out a framework of rules for how judicial reviews should be conducted, including a stipulation that judicial reviews should be conducted in the Supreme Court of British Columbia (1996). As a general rule, the Judicial Review Procedure Act doesn't set any time limit for requesting a judicial review (1996, s. 11), but other enactments may specify time limits for certain types of judicial review. For example, a request for a judicial review of an adjudicator's decision about a bylaw notice must be made within 30 days of the adjudicator's decision (Local Government Bylaw Notice Enforcement Act, 2003, s. 22).
REFERENCES:
Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65 (CanLII), [2019] 4 SCR 653. https://canlii.ca/t/j46kb
Judicial Review Procedure Act, RSBC 1996, c. 241. https://canlii.ca/t/55q48
Justice Education Society. (n.d.a). What is Judicial Review? Supreme Court BC: Online Help Guide. Retrieved March 17, 2024 from https://supremecourtbc.ca/civil-law/getting-started/what-is-jr
Justice Education Society. (n.d.b). Judicial Review Basics. Supreme Court BC : Online Help Guide. Retrieved March 17, 2024 from https://supremecourtbc.ca/civil-law/getting-started/jr-basics
Local Government Bylaw Notice Enforcement Act, SBC 2003, c. 60. https://canlii.ca/t/jjk1
Moores, E. (2021, May 12). What is judicial review and why should you care about it? Unsolicited. https://goldblattpartners.com/unsolicited-blog/what-is-judicial-review-and-why-should-you-care-about-it/