Rethinking the Story of Cart v Upper Tribunal & Its Implications for Administrative Law

Abstract

An influential set of narratives are beginning to emerge according to which the Supreme Court decision in Cart v Upper Tribunal marks a major departure from existing judicial approaches to administrative law. This paper challenges these narratives, arguing that they overstate the sense of novelty inherent in Cart as well as overlook a number of important seams of continuity with the past inherent in the case. This analysis is important, not only because it enhances understanding of a recent major case. Reflection on Cart and its relationship with the past brings to light three important, but sometimes overlooked, themes which have long characterised administrative law. These themes, in turn, both give rise to some highly important and challenging questions about how legal scholars ‘do’ administrative law and emphasise the importance for those working within the generalist administrative law tradition of ‘taking legislation seriously.’