Question was whether
installation of central heating was structural alteration within Housing Act
1974.
installation of central heating was structural alteration within Housing Act
1974.
Lord Denning in Court of
Appeal noted that line between errors of law which went to jurisdiction [of
higher court] and those within jurisdiction [of original body] was a fine one,
and characterisation would often depend on whether courts wished to intervene.
Appeal noted that line between errors of law which went to jurisdiction [of
higher court] and those within jurisdiction [of original body] was a fine one,
and characterisation would often depend on whether courts wished to intervene.
Since Anisminic, a court, if it chooses to interfere, can simply say ‘The
court below had no jurisdiction to determine this point wrongly as it did’.
court below had no jurisdiction to determine this point wrongly as it did’.
Hence distinction between jurisdictional
and non-jurisdictional errors should be discarded.
and non-jurisdictional errors should be discarded.
Principle should be ‘No court
or tribunal has any jurisdiction to make an error of law on which the decision
of the case depends’.
or tribunal has any jurisdiction to make an error of law on which the decision
of the case depends’.
