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24 May 2013
Issue: 7561 / Categories: Features
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Book review: Judicial Review Handbook (Sixth edition)

"To say that the handbook is indispensable is merely to repeat what we all know"

Author: Michael Fordham QC
Publisher: Hart Publishing
ISBN: 9781849461597
Price: £125

Michael Fordham QC may well be an iconoclast at heart, but it will surely be no disappointment to him that his Judicial Review Handbook has become part of the orthodoxy. It is of itself an establishment figure, to be found right next to the White Book on the benches of the Administrative Courts and the desks of all serious judicial review practitioners.

To say that the handbook is indispensable is merely to repeat what we all know; its central role in administrative law is subject of the very highest authorities, from the Supreme Court and the Privy Council. But what can we say for the sixth edition?

It is self-evident that a book such as this is utterly reliant on its comprehensiveness and currency. Fordham’s self-imposed task of surveying the whole gamut of judicial review cases is a mammoth task, and one that he still undertakes single-handedly.

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NEWS
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
Recent allegations surrounding Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have reignited scrutiny of the ancient common law offence of misconduct in public office. Writing in NLJ this week, Simon Parsons, teaching fellow at Bath Spa University, asks whether their conduct could clear a notoriously high legal hurdle
A landmark ruling has reshaped child clinical negligence claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Jodi Newton, head of birth and paediatric negligence at Osbornes Law, explains how the Supreme Court in CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5 has overturned Croke v Wiseman, ending the long-standing bar on children recovering ‘lost years’ earnings
A Court of Appeal ruling has drawn a firm line under party autonomy in arbitration. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed, associate professor at the University of Leicester, analyses Gluck v Endzweig [2026] EWCA Civ 145, where a clause allowing arbitrators to amend an award ‘at any time’ was held incompatible with the Arbitration Act 1996
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