''R v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, ex parte World Development Movement Ltd'' is a

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...

case in

English law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...

decided by the Divisional Court of England and Wales on 10 November 1994 in which the

World Development Movement Global Justice Now, formerly known as the World Development Movement (WDM), is a membership organisation based in the United Kingdom which campaigns on issues of global justice and development in the Global South. The organisation produces re ...

challenged the decision of the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to spend £234 million on a development project on

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Pergau Dam Pergau station or formally known as Stesen Janaelektrik Sultan Ismail Petra is a hydroelectric power station in Kuala Yong, Kelantan, Malaysia. It is located about 100 km west of Kota Bharu. Power station The power station is an underground hydr ...

Facts

At the time, the

Overseas Development Administration , type = Department , logo = DfID.svg , logo_width = 180px , logo_caption = , picture = File:Admiralty Screen (411824276).jpg , picture_width = 180px , picture_caption = Department for International Development (London office) (far right ...

(ODA) was under the supervision of the Foreign Secretary and the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

, its primary remit being to promote UK exports to the developing world ("aid through trade"). During this period, it has been alleged that there was a connection between the granting of aid and the achievement of either foreign policy goals or British companies winning export orders. A scandal erupted concerning the UK funding of a hydroelectric dam on the Pergau River in Malaysia, near the Thai border. Building work began in 1991 with money from the UK foreign aid budget. Concurrently, the

Malaysian government The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia ( ms, Kerajaan Persekutuan Malaysia), is based in the Federal Territory of Putrajaya with the exception of the legislative branch, which is located in Kuala Lumpur. Malay ...

bought around £1 billion worth of arms from the UK. The suggested linkage of arms deals to aid became the subject of a UK government inquiry from March 1994. In November 1994, the

applied for judicial review.

Judgment

The High Court of England and Wales held that the Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, had acted '' ultra vires'' (outside of his power, and therefore unlawfully) by allocating £234 million towards the funding of the dam, on the grounds that legislation only empowered him to allocate funds to economically sound projects..

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:R V Secretary Of State For Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Ex Parte World Development Movement Ltd 1994 in case law 1994 in British law United Kingdom administrative case law Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office High Court of Justice cases

Facts

Judgment

See also

Notes