Prohibiting Order

A prohibiting order is one of the remedies the High Court can grant on judicial review, sitting alongside quashing orders and mandatory orders. Section 31 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 places all three in the same statutory list, allowing an application for one or more of 'a mandatory, prohibiting or quashing order' to be brought as an application for judicial review.

Unlike a quashing order, which undoes a decision that has already been made, a prohibiting order looks forward. A Ministry of Justice fact sheet on judicial review explains that alongside quashing orders, the court has other 'remedies' available, such as prohibiting something from happening or making a declaration as to the state of the law — so a prohibiting order can be used to restrain a public body from taking an anticipated unlawful step before it occurs, rather than only correcting unlawful action after the fact.

As with the other judicial review remedies, a prohibiting order is only available once the court has found that a public body has acted, or would act, unlawfully. The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary describe judicial review generally as a challenge to the way in which a decision has been made, rather than the rights and wrongs of the conclusion reached, meaning a prohibiting order restrains a public body from following an unlawful process or exceeding its lawful powers, not simply from reaching a conclusion the claimant disagrees with.