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2 U. Malaya L. Rev. 64 (1960)
Judicial Review of Adminstrative Action by the Prerogative Orders

handle is hein.journals/sjls2 and id is 70 raw text is: UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA LAW REVIEW JUDICIAL REVIEW OF ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION BY THE PREROGATIVE ORDERS The complexity of modern life is marked by an increasing demand for greater socialization. This has rendered it necessary to vest more and more discretionary power in persons or bodies charged with the administration. Alongside it, has developed a fear that in the process, the rights of the individual might sink below water. This in turn provokes doubts as to the efficacy of the existing machinery of judicial control of administrative action. The general climate of opinion, both judicial and juristic (at least that voiced) favours the continental as opposed to the common law system of judicial control over the executiveI - loud in praises of one and castigating in no uncertain terms the inadequacy of the other. Bearing the brunt of the attack are the prerogative orders 2 of mandamus, prohibition and certiorari which have been condemned as moribund or archaic, cumbrous and inelastic and designed or planned for the evil purpose of thwarting justice and maximising fruitless litigation. From the bench comes this oft-quoted extra-judicial pronouncement ...Just as the pitch and shovel is no longer suitable for the winning of coal, so also the procedure of mandamus, certiorari and action on the case are not suitable for the winning of freedom in the new age... 4 Eight years later, the Frank's Committee (1957) took the opposite stand : It is sometimes asserted that the procedure involved in seeking these remedies is unduly complex, but we think that this criticism is unfounded. I The whole topic is highly controversial and this paper is an essay on the part of the writer to come to grips with the efficacy of judicial control of the actions of the executive through the prerogative orders. In order to assess the position more accurately, it would be salutary to bear in mind the precise role of the courts in the context of the world 1. In France, the general administrative remedy is by a petition filed with the appropriate administrative court containing a summary statement of the facts, the grounds on which relief is sought and the nature of the relief. In Germany, the Generalklausal gives anyone whose rights are injured by public power a right to legal redress. Cf. U.S. Federal Administrative Procedure Act, 1946, s.10, which appears to give a general right of review of administrative action comparable to the Generalklausal. However the limitations on the section render its scope uncertain. 2. Previously, the prerogative writs. Change brought about in England by the Administration of Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Acts, 1933, s.5, and 1938, s.7. 3. Davis, Administrative Law, p. 126. 4. Denning, Freedom Under the Law, p. 126 (1949). 5. Cmnd. 218 (1957), para. 117. It also recommended that remedies by certiorari, prohibition and mandamus be not excluded by statute. Vol. 2 No. 1,--

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