FOREWORD TO

“RESEARCH ON THE ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL SYSTEM IN THE UNITED KINGDOM”

BY WANG JIANXIN

The tribunal system is one of the most distinctive features of the United Kingdom’s legal system. Tribunals often decide questions of vital importance to the individual. For instance whether an individual is entitled to a social welfare benefit (such as unemployment payment) or whether an illegal immigrant may be removed from the country. It is important that these decisions should be taken fairly and according to law. The system of tribunals has recently (2007) been subject to a far reaching reform which has made the system more logical and more independent of the executive and also more efficient.

So 2011 was a good time in which to study this system. And I was happy to welcome Wang Jianxin as a visitor to the Centre for Public Law in the Faculty of Law of the University of Cambridge from August 2011 to January 2012 to work under my supervision on the tribunal system. During this period not only did he spend many hours on research in the library, but he held widespread discussion with myself and others on the operation of the system and attended tribunal hearings in London. He worked very diligently and thoroughly on this topic.

This work is the result. Although it concentrates on the position after the 2007 reforms it also covers the history of the system of tribunals and the procedures adopted by tribunals to make decisions. It includes an account of the difficult issue of the relationship between tribunals and the common law courts and the general law of judicial review. I commend this dissertation to the reader. Anyone seeking an understanding of the tribunals system in the United Kingdom either for its own sake or with a view to reforming administrative decision making will find much food for thought here. I congratulate Wang Jianxin on his achievement.

PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC LAW AND PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW, UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.