''Padfield v Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food'' UKHL 1
is a United Kingdom administrative law">968
UKHL 1
is a United Kingdom administrative law case, concerning judicial review.

Facts

Padfield and other milk producers in the South East Region argued they should get more milk subsidies to reflect growing transport costs, and applied to court to compel the minister to appoint an investigation. The

Agricultural Marketing Act 1958 Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

section 19 said a committee of the

Milk Marketing Board The Milk Marketing Board was a producer-run product marketing board, established by the Agricultural Marketing Act 1933, to control milk production and distribution in the United Kingdom. It functioned as buyer of last resort in the milk market in ...

can investigate "if the Minister so directs" after a complaint on a scheme's operation if it cannot be considered by a consumers' committee (subsection 3(b)), and if it reports a scheme is "contrary to the interests of consumers of the regulated products" or "any persons affected by the scheme" and is "not in the public interest" the minister can amend the scheme, revoke it or direct the board to rectify it (subsection 6). There were eleven milk regions with different prices for milk, fixed depending on costs of transporting milk from producers to consumers. All milk producers had to sell their milk to the Milk Marketing Board. Differentials had been fixed a few years earlier and transport costs had changed. The SE region argued the difference between it and the Far Western Region should be altered: this would incidentally affect other regions. Board members were elected by individual regions, so it was impossible for SE producers to get a majority for their proposals. They asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (

Fred Peart Thomas Frederick Peart, Baron Peart, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, PC (30 April 1914 – 26 August 1988) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour politician who served in the Labour governments of the 1960s and 1970s and was a candidate fo ...

) to appoint a committee of investigation, but he refused. They requested ''

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 ...

'' (specifically, a court order requiring the Minister to appoint the Committee).

Judgment

Court of Appeal

Diplock LJ William John Kenneth Diplock, Baron Diplock, (8 December 1907 – 14 October 1985) was a British barrister and judge who served as a lord of appeal in ordinary between 1968 and until his death in 1985. Appointed to the English High Court in ...

and Russell LJ held the minister's discretion could not be challenged.

Lord Denning Alfred Thompson "Tom" Denning, Baron Denning (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999) was an English lawyer and judge. He was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 when ...

MR dissented.

House of Lords

The House of Lords, reversing the Court of Appeal, held that a minister's discretion to refuse an investigation was subject to judicial review where a refusal would frustrate the policy of an Act. An order should be made to direct the minister to consider the complaint. Lord Reid said: Lord Upjohn said that if the minister

Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest John William Morris, Baron Morris of Borth-y-Gest, (11 September 1896 – 9 June 1979) was a judge in England and Wales. He was a Law Lord from 1960 to 1975. Early life Morris was born in Liverpool, where his father was a bank manager. He ...

dissented.

Notes

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External links