Of Fig Leaves and Fairy Tales: The Ultra Vires Doctrine, the Sovereignty of Parliament and Judicial Review

Abstract

The doctrine of ultra vires has been aptly described by Sir William Wade as “the central principle of administrative law” but in recent years it has been subjected to criticism. First the academics weighed in and, increasingly, eminent judges speaking or writing extra-judicially have described the doctrine as a “fairy tale” or a “fig leaf” and declared its redundancy and lack of utility.