Quashing Order

A quashing order is one of the remedies available on judicial review, the court process by which, as the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary explain, a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body. Its statutory basis is section 31 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, which lists 'a mandatory, prohibiting or quashing order' among the forms of relief that can be sought on an application for judicial review.

A Ministry of Justice fact sheet on judicial review reform describes the ordinary effect of the remedy: usually, this is a quashing order which holds that the decision is and never was of any legal effect, meaning the public body's decision is treated as void from the outset rather than merely cancelled going forward.

Where the High Court makes a quashing order, section 31 gives it further powers over what happens next. It may remit the matter to the court, tribunal or authority which made the decision, with a direction to reconsider the matter and reach a decision, or in narrower circumstances substitute its own decision for the decision in question. Because judicial review is concerned with the lawfulness of the decision-making process rather than its merits, the judiciary's own guidance notes that the court will not substitute what it thinks is the 'correct' decision — a quashing order sends the matter back for a lawful decision to be taken, rather than dictating the outcome.