Anisminic Ltd v Foreign Compensation Commission
House of Lords Judicial functions of the House of Lords The House of Lords, in addition to having a legislative function, historically also had a judicial function. It functioned as a court of first instance for the trials of peers, for impeachment cases, and as a court of last resort within the United Kingdom. In the latter case the House's...
Date decided:	1968
Full case name:	Anisminic Ltd v Foreign Compensation Commission
Citations:	[1969] 2 AC 147, [1969] 2 WLR 163
Judges sitting:	Lord Reid Lord Reid Lord Reid may refer to :* James Reid, Baron Reid, a Scottish Unionist politician and judge .* John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan, a Scottish Labour politician, cabinet minister and chairman of Celtic F.C.... , Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest, Lord Pearce, Lord Wilberforce, Lord Pearson Colin Pearson, Baron Pearson Colin Hargreaves Pearson, Baron Pearson PC, KC, CBE was a Canadian-born English barrister and judge. Rising to sit as a judge in the House of Lords, he is best remembered for his unspectacular but efficient and courteous chairmanship of industrial inquiries and royal commissions... .
Cases cited:
Legislation cited:
Case history
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Keywords Judicial review Judicial review in English Law Judicial review is a procedure in English administrative law by which the courts in England and Wales supervise the exercise of public power on the application of an individual... , Ouster clause, Error of Law

Anisminic is an important House of Lords decision in the area of administrative law

Administrative law

Administrative law is the body of law that governs the activities of administrative agencies of government. Government agency action can include rulemaking, adjudication, or the enforcement of a specific regulatory agenda. Administrative law is considered a branch of public law...

, establishing in particular that any error of law made by a public body will make its decision a nullity and that a statutory exclusion clause does not deprive the courts from their jurisdiction in judicial review

Judicial review in English Law

Judicial review is a procedure in English administrative law by which the courts in England and Wales supervise the exercise of public power on the application of an individual...

 unless it expressly states this.

Facts of the case

As a result of the Suez Crisis

Suez Crisis

The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...

 some mining properties of the appellant Anisminic located in the Sinai peninsula were seized by the Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian government before November 1956. The appellants then sold the mining properties to an Egyptian government-owned organisation called TEDO in 1957.

In 1959, a piece of subordinate legislation was passed under the Foreign Compensation Act 1950 to distribute compensation paid by the Egyptian government to the UK government with respect to British properties it had nationalised. The appellants claimed that they were eligible for compensation under this piece of subordinate legislation, which was determined by a tribunal (the respondents in this case) set up under the Foreign Compensation Act 1950.

The tribunal, however, decided that the appellants were not eligible for compensation, because their "successors in title" (TEDO) did not have the British nationality as required under one of the provisions of the subordinate legislation.

The key issues

There were two important issues on the appeal to the Court of Appeal and later, the House of Lords

Judicial functions of the House of Lords

The House of Lords, in addition to having a legislative function, historically also had a judicial function. It functioned as a court of first instance for the trials of peers, for impeachment cases, and as a court of last resort within the United Kingdom. In the latter case the House's...

. The first was straightforward: whether the tribunal had made an error of law in construing the term "successor of title" under the subordinate legislation.

The second issue was more complex and had important implications for the law on judicial review. Even if the tribunal had made an error of law, the House of Lords had to decide whether or not an appellate court had the jurisdiction to intervene in the tribunal's decision. Section 4(4) of the Foreign Compensation Act 1950 stated that:

"The determination by the commission of any application made to them under this Act shall not be called into question in any court of law".

This was a so called "ouster clause".

Ruling

By a 3-2 majority, the House of Lords decided that section 4(4) of the Foreign Compensation Act did not preclude the court from inquiring whether or not the order of the tribunal was a nullity, and accordingly it decided that the tribunal had misconstrued the legislation (the term "successor in title"), and that the determination by the defendant tribunal that the appellant did not qualify to be paid compensation was null, and that they were entitled to have a share of the compensation fund paid by the Egyptian government..

Effect of the decision

The decision illustrates the courts' reluctance to give effect to any legislative provision that attempts to exclude their jurisdiction in judicial review. Even when such an exclusion is relatively clearly worded, the courts will hold that it does not preclude them from scrutinising the decision on an error of law and quashing it when such an error occurs.

It also establishes that any error of law by a public body will result in its decision being ultra vires

Ultra vires

Ultra vires is a Latin phrase meaning literally "beyond the powers", although its standard legal translation and substitute is "beyond power". If an act requires legal authority and it is done with such authority, it is...

.

External links

• Full text of the decision