Public Interest in UK Courts

Lead Research Organisation: Queen's University Belfast
Department Name: Sch of Law

Abstract

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Publications

10 25 50
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Anthony, GK (2013) Public Interest and the Three Dimensions of Judicial Review in Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly

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Anthony, Gordon; Auby, Jean-Bernard; Morison, John; Zwart, Tom (2011) Values in Global Administrative Law

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Gordon Anthony (Author) (2010) Public interest and judicial review

 
Description The project was intended to provide an insight into the different ways in which the term "the public interest" is used by UK courts. We discovered the following (and recurring) uses, viz "public interest":
• as a justification for derogating from fundamental freedoms under the EU treaties;
• as a justification for limiting qualified rights under the ECHR;
• as underpinning governmental choices in the field of, for instance, international relations;
• as determining matters of judicial review procedure (standing, protective costs orders, third party interventions);
• as a basis for withholding evidence in legal proceedings (public interest immunity);
• and as a defence in freedom of expression cases (such as defamation proceedings and privacy proceedings).

See further the project's findings at http://publicinterest.info/
Exploitation Route The project's work on the meaning of "public interest" has been, and can be, used as the basis for other research projects. For instance, Anthony has since been involved in an AHRC funded project on "Amnesties, Prosecutions, and the Public Interest in the Northern Ireland Transition", and a further collaborative project on "The Public Interest in Private Law" is proposed. Both of these projects have borrowed from the results of this project, and others could do likewise.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Education

Environment

Government

Democracy and Justice

Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

URL http://publicinterest.info/
 
Description Our findings have been used in three main ways: 1. As the basis for the range of academic publications noted in this report. These have since been added to by the publication of G Anthony, 'Public Interest and the Three Dimensions of Judicial Review' (2013) 64 Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 125-142. 2. As the material that came to populate the project's web-site, at http://publicinterest.info/. 3. As the basis for presentations and talks in Northern Ireland, the UK more widely, and at European Universities. For instance, in August/September 2016, Anthony taught a course on "the law of the public interest" at the Academy of European Public Law, Greece.
First Year Of Impact 2011
Sector Education,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections
Impact Types Cultural

Societal