The Franks Report of 1957 was issued by a British committee of inquiry chaired by Sir Oliver Franks in respect of growing concerns as to the range and diversity of tribunals, uncertainty about the procedures they followed and worry over lack of cohesion and supervision. The catalyst for this was the

Crichel Down Affair The Crichel Down affair was a British political scandal of 1954, with a subsequent effect and notoriety. The ''Crichel Down Rules'' are guidelines applying to compulsory purchase drawn up in the light of the affair. Crichel Down land The case cen ...

. However, this was a result of a decision by the

British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

and the Franks committee was told to limit its discussion to formal

statutory A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

procedure and not to go into decisions of the

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

s or one-off decisions, which excluded the ''Crichel'' decision.

Basic assumptions of the report

Tribunals are an adjudicating, rather than administrative, body and they should be fair, open and impartial.

Openness Openness is an overarching concept or philosophy that is characterized by an emphasis on transparency (behavior), transparency and decentralized decision-making, collaboration. That is, openness refers to "accessibility of knowledge, technology a ...

is for publicity of proceedings and the reasoning behind the decision.

Fairness Fairness or being fair can refer to: * Justice * The character in the award-nominated musical comedy '' A Theory of Justice: The Musical.'' * Equity (law), a legal principle allowing for the use of discretion and fairness when applying justice ...

through having a clear procedure, allowing participants to present their case fully and knowledge of requirements to meet for parties.

Impartiality Impartiality (also called evenhandedness or fair-mindedness) is a principle of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to one person over another ...

established from independence from the real or apparent influence of the administration.

Aims and recommendations

Constitution of tribunals

Chairman to be chosen by the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

, normally having legal qualifications for trial and mandatory for appellate tribunals. Rest of members to be chosen by the Council of Tribunals.

Procedure of tribunals

The Council of Tribunals should direct the particular procedure in each case, with the aim of combining order with an informal atmosphere.

Citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

s should have a prior knowledge of the right to apply to participate and public knowledge of the proceedings unless the content is of sensitive nature, with legal representation normally allowed. Tribunals empowered to take evidence under oath,

subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...

witnesses and award remedies. Decisions should give full reasons and a copy sent to all parties. Final appellate tribunal to publish its decision for lower tribunals.

Appeals from tribunal decisions

Appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

in the first instance should be to an appellate tribunal, but never to a

minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

unless the First Instance tribunal is highly competent.

Common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

remedies of

Certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...

(direction to send records),

mandamus (; ) is a judicial remedy in the form of an order from a court to any government, subordinate court, corporation, or public authority, to do (or forbear from doing) some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do (or refrain from ...

(mandatory order) and

writ of prohibition A writ of prohibition is a writ directing a subordinate to stop doing something the law prohibits. This writ is often issued by a superior court to the lower court directing it not to proceed with a case which does not fall under its jurisdicti ...

(abstain a court where it lacks competence) should never be restricted. Also the report recommended that a Councils of Tribunals be formed to perform their respective role as envisaged in the report.

Achievements

Most of the recommendations were implemented by the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1958 and

Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992 The Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which sets out the powers and functions of the Council on Tribunals.{{cite web , url=http://www.lawteacher.net/Admin%20Tribunals.php , title=Administrative Tribu ...

; others were implemented by administrative practice.Tribunals
Working and number council of tribunal was mentioned in the schedules, with their function being advisory, but they could make recommendations on any matter and had to be consulted before any rule was enacted. Right to give reasons was added, but it had to be asked for before or during the decision, and judicial review restricted the right in a few instances. List of tribunals could be stopped by ministerial power. The report’s recommendations were not followed where appeals to the High Court (

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

in Scotland) were only permitted based on law and the procedure to appoint chairman and members.

References

{{reflist Public inquiries in the United Kingdom 1957 in British politics United Kingdom tribunals