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Lots of people in this thread are acting as if the court held that the arms sale was moral, or even a good idea. Courts don't work like that (at least, Judicial
by SEMW 9y ago
Lots of people in this thread are acting as if the court held that the arms sale was moral, or even a good idea. Courts don't work like that (at least, Judicial Review cases in England don't).
The court was asked to block arms sales on the grounds that the gov'ts decision to sell arms to Saudi Arabia was Wednesbury unreasonable. For a decision to be Wednesbury unreasonable, it must be so irrational that no sensible person could have arrived at it.[0]
This is a really high bar.
The court held that the decision to sell arms didn't meet this bar. This was the expected outcome — it's pretty rare for government decisions to be overturned for Wednesbury irrationality. This case was a long shot by the CAAT. This doesn't mean the court thought arms sale was good, moral, or anything else. But English courts doesn't have the power to strike down decisions (that are within the power of the government to make under statute or common law) for not being good or moral.
(IANAL).
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Provincial_Picture_Houses_Ltd_v_Wednesbury_Corp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Provincial_Picture_...
- skummetmaelk 9y agoIf government decisions are overturned for Wednesbury irrationality and Wednesbury irrationality requires that no sane person could have arrived at the decision, does the court imply that the government is run by insane persons?
- epmaybe 9y agoNo? You can't find one rational reason for the UK government to want extra cash?
- SEMW 9y agoHeh. I think they tend to phrase it ".. so as to appear to have taken leave of [their] senses", to leave open the possibility of sanity :) http://www.uniset.ca/other/cs6/2001EWCACiv789.html http://www.uniset.ca/other/cs6/2001EWCACiv789.html is a good example of a case where a government decision was overturned on Wednesbury irrationality grounds. (Ctrl-f for "judgment of the court" and start reading there)