This course complements and builds on the compulsory course JURD7160 Administrative Law, which of necessity focuses on the central avenues of accountability for administrative decision-making, primarily the courts and tribunals. The concerns of administrative justice encompass broader issues of ensuring quality in decision-making, through internal and external processes. This course will allow students to explore administrative justice issues in more depth than is possible in JURD7160, including barriers to access such as language, and access to information.

The course complements JURD7382 Advanced Administrative Law, which encompasses issues of liability and remedies for defective administration, challenges for regulation and government service delivery, and judicial scrutiny of administration. A student interested in public law, administrative law, and social justice issues should consider enrolling in both electives. The course will provide an opportunity for students to develop critical thinking, research, and communication skills, and will be of particular interest for students interested in careers in the public sector, policy work, and community legal centres.

This course aims to locate themes and current issues in administrative justice in context, providing a comprehensive coverage of review and scrutiny mechanisms and processes. The focus is on extra-judicial means of redress for individual grievances against the exercise of governmental or public power including complaints, investigation, dispute resolution, and adjudication. The course asks students to reflect on the extent to which the mechanisms for delivering administrative justice achieve the goals of acceptable and justifiable administrative decision-making.

At the conclusion of this course, students should be able to: