A Discussion of the Duty & Jurisdiction of the Courts to Review Administrative Decisions

Abstract

The duty and jurisdiction of the court to review administrative action do not go beyond the declaration and enforcing of the law which determines the limits and governs the exercise of the repository's power. If in doing so, the court avoids administrative injustice or error, so be it; but the court has no jurisdiction simply to cure administrative injustice or error. The merits of administrative action, to the extent that they can be distinguished from legality, are for the repository of the relevant power and, subject to political control, for the repository alone...If courts were to postulate rules ostensibly related to limitations on administrative power but in reality calculated to open the gate into the forbidden field of merits of its exercise, the functions of the courts would be exceeded.