Philip Murray

Corpus Christi College

The Development of Jurisdictional Error in English Administrative Law: 1800-1968

My thesis will look at how the administrative-law concept of jurisdictional error developed from 1800 to the decision in Anisminic Ltd. v. Foreign Compensation Commission in 1968. The primary purpose of the thesis will be to analyze the relevance of conflicting theoretical interpretations of jurisdictional error in the case law. I also hope to identify the factors that have shaped this development, and assess the extent to which conflicting normative and pragmatic considerations have played a part. The study will be separated into distinct parts, with each part analyzing the separate developments of jurisdictional error in the prerogative writs of certiorari, mandamus, habeas corpus, and prohibition, as well as developments in private actions in tort and cases in which declaratory relief was sought. From these separate studies, overarching principles which shaped the development of jurisdictional error will hopefully be distilled. It is hoped that these key principles, once identified, can be used as a means of critiquing the conceptualization of jurisdictional error in post-Anisminic administrative law, as well as for guiding future developments.

Start Date: 2010/09.

End Date: 2013/06.

Education

B.A. (Hons.) (Cantab.), Law Tripos, 2007-2010

 

Scholarships and Prizes

Avory Scholar, Corpus Christi College (2008-2010)

Academic Scholar of the Nicholas Bacon Law Fund, Corpus Christi College (2008-2010)

Rebecca Flower Squire Scholar, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge (2008-2010)

Simmons and Simmons Prize for result in Part 1B of the Law Tripos, Corpus Christi College (2009)

Corpus-Taylor Prize for Part II Dissertation, Corpus Christi College (2010)

Full funding for Ph.D. from the Cambridge Home and European Scholarship Scheme (2010-2013)

 

Winner of the 'Best Oralist' Prize at the International Roman Law Mooting Competition, held in Kavala, Greece (2009)

On the winning team in the Clifford Chance LLP Oxford-Cambridge Roman Law Mooting Competition (2008)

Winner of the Corpus Christi College Annual Freshers' Moot (2008)

 

Teaching Experience

2010-2011

Supervisor for Constitutional Law: Corpus Christi College

2011-2012

Supervisor in Constitutional Law: Corpus Christi College, Selwyn College, Magdalene College (Lent and Easter terms), and St. John's College (Lent term only).

Supervisor in Administrative Law: Christ's College (Michaelmas only), Corpus Christi College, Trinity College, Selwyn College, Emmanuel College, and Sidney Sussex College.

 

Other Experience

Interviewed for undergraduate admissions in Law at Corpus Christi College for the 2011 and 2012 admissions rounds.

Leader of the Law course on the Corpus Christi College Northern Ireland Summer School, July 2011.

Assistant at the Twentieth British Legal History Conference 2011, held in Cambridge.

Speaker in opposition of the motion 'This House Hates Human Rights' at the Cambridge Union Society, November 2010.

Highest-earning caller on the 2011 Corpus Christi College Alumni Telephone Campaign.

President of Corpus Christi Middle Combination Room, 2012.

Chairman of the Nicholas Bacon Law Society, Corpus Christi College, 2011-2012.

Founding president of the Leckhampton Wine Club, 2010-2011.

 

Administrative Law

Constitutional Law

Legal History

'Judicial Review of the Upper Tribunal: Appeal, Review, and the Will of Parliament' [2011] Cambridge Law Journal 487.

Professor David Feldman