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Thursday, August 19, 2010

ANISMINIC'S CASE

Anisminic v Foreign Compensation Commission [1969] 2 AC 147 (HL)The Foreign Compensation Commission was set up by an act of Parliament that provided that ‘The determination by the Commission of any application made to them under this Act shall not be called in question in any court of law’.

The Commission rejected Anisminic’s application for compensation, and the company sought a declaration that the decision was unlawful. Their argument was simply that the Commission misinterpreted the criteria for compensation, yet the House of Lords issued the declaration. The majority (3-2) of the Law Lords held that the Commission had misinterpreted the criteria, and that their error of law was of such a kind that there was no ‘determination’ at all.

According to Lord Reid, the Commission had decided the claim ‘on a ground which they had no right to take into account’ and as a result their decision was not a determination, but a nullity.

1 comment:

  1. the decission was very clear but the aim of HC was real justice or undermine egptians?

    ReplyDelete