Power to remit

Adami v Ethical Standards Officer of the Standards Board for English CA TLR 2 December

CPR rule 52.10(2)(b) gives an appellate court the power to refer any claim or issue for determination by the lower court. This empowers a judge hearing a statutory appeal from a specialist tribunal which was given inadequate reasons for its decision a discretion to remit the matter to the tribunal, so that it could supply adequate reasons. In the present case, the judge on appeal appeared to have put this discretion to one side, even though he had accepted the integrity of the tribunal’s decision. That was not a proportionate response to the inadequacy of the tribunal’s reasons. By failing to remit, it could be said that the judge had usurped the function of the specialist regulatory body. The appeal against his decision was allowed.