Douglas and Jones’s Administrative Law

The eighth edition of this leading administrative law text continues its reputation as a foundational reference book for both students and practitioners in this area. It covers this area of law in a way that is both clear and digestible, but also comprehensive, such that it provides a particularly useful introduction for those with less familiarity with the subject. As above, the text is comprehensive. It considers issues commonly arising such as freedom of information, right to reasons, merits review, and the various grounds of judicial review – including acting ultra vires, acting for proper purposes and according to relevant considerations, findings of fact, reasonableness and rationality and issues of procedural fairness. It also, however, extends its consideration to the rule against bias, public interest immunity as well as more general questions of the modernisation of, and threats to, administrative law. In each instance, its discussion is supplemented by case extracts or excerpts from other sources, as well as “Notes and questions”, providing the reader an opportunity to test their understanding. Helpfully, this latest edition also includes fulsome explanation of all relevant High Court cases in this area since the seventh edition was published in 2014. As such, this text remains a useful addition to the library of those seeking a clear, yet relatively comprehensive, overview of this often difficult and confused area of law. – Queensland Law Reporter – 29 June 2018 – [2018] 25 QLR

Reviews of previous editions:

The book is essentially a students’ book of cases and materials. However it is also useful to the practitioner who does not deal with problems in administrative law on a regular basis … The book is a good introduction to the subject and would enable a student to obtain a good basic understanding would enable the practitioner in the field to obtain a lead into what he or she would have to master to deal with the problem in administrative law that has recently landed on the desk. – (2009) 83 ALJ 774

[T]he book provides a comprehensive coverage of administrative law for students and legal practitioners, particularly with its commentary and extracts from case law and legislation and the Notes and Questions sprinkled throughout the text. It would be a useful addition to any law library. – Australian Law Librarian, Vol 18 No 1, 2010

… I can thoroughly recommend this work. It is well-written, well set out, up to date, and it gives comprehensive coverage of the subject. It is well worth the purchase. It is prepared and written by an obvious expert. – Damien J Cremean, Law Institute Journal of Victoria, October 2009

This edition introduces new excerpts from recent High Court, Federal Court and Supreme Court decisions and a section on human rights legislation in the ACT and Victoria. Even in areas where there has been no significant development in case law or legislation since the last edition, commentary has been updated to include references to recent articles and reports. The text not only states the existing law, but also foreshadows the possible future directions of development. Extracts from Australian Law Reform Commission and Administrative Review Council reports are provided, reviews and inquiries in relation to law reform are referred to and the impact of human rights legislation in the United Kingdom is noted as indicating a possible catalyst for similar developments here. The law is current to 1 November 2008. – Ethos, ACT Law Society Journal, June 2009