Ouster Clause
A statutory provision purporting to exclude judicial review of a decision. The courts have generally been reluctant to give effect to ouster clauses (Anisminic v FCC [1969]), treating decisions made in error of law as nullities that the clause does not protect.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
An ouster clause is a provision by which Parliament tries to remove a decision from the supervisory jurisdiction of the courts. The Supreme Court's decision in R (Privacy International) v Investigatory Powers Tribunal confirmed that, since Anisminic v Foreign Compensation Commission, a determination vitiated by any error of law, jurisdictional or not, is to be treated as no determination at all — so a clause excluding challenges to 'determinations' does not, on its own words, protect a decision that was legally invalid in the first place.
Because interpreting an ouster clause is not an ordinary exercise in statutory interpretation, the Supreme Court held that there is a common law presumption against ousting the jurisdiction of the High Court, and that judicial review can only be excluded by the most clear and explicit words — a formula an ordinary ouster clause is unlikely to satisfy.
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Official sources
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