The Nature of Inquisitorial Processes in Administrative Regimes: Global Perspectives

’Inquisitorial processes’ refers to the inquiry powers of administrative governance and this book examines the use of these powers in administrative law across seven jurisdictions. The book brings together recent developments in mixed inquisitorial-adversarial administrative decision-making on a hitherto neglected area of comparative administrative process and institutional design. Reaching important conclusions about their own jurisdictions and raising questions which may be explored in others, the book's chapters are comparative. They explore the terminology and scope of the concept of inquisitorial process, justifications for the use of inquiry powers, the effectiveness of inquisitorial processes and the implications of the adoption of such powers. The book will set in motion continued dialogue about the inherent challenges of balancing policy goals, fairness, resources and institutional design within administrative law decision-making by offering theoretical, practical and empirical analyses. This will be a valuable book to government policy-makers, administrative law decision-makers, lawyers and academics.

Table of Contents:
The Nature of Inquisitorial Processes in Administrative Regimes

About the Author :
Laverne Jacobs is an Associate Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies at the Faculty of Law of the University of Windsor in Canada. She holds law degrees in Common Law and Civil Law from McGill University and a doctorate from Osgoode Hall Law School. Upon graduating from McGill, she clerked for Justice Brian Malone at the Federal Court of Appeal. Dr. Jacobs is widely published in the area of administrative law. Her scholarship aims to bridge the gap between public law jurisprudence and public law realities through empirical inquiry. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to her research and uses qualitative empirical research methods from the social sciences. Dr. Jacobs’ primary research and teaching interests are in the areas of domestic and comparative administrative law, freedom of information, human rights and empirical research methodology. Sasha Baglay (LLM, Dalhousie; DJur, Osgoode Hall) is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Her area of research and teaching lies in immigration and refugee law and policy. She has widely presented on the issues of Canadian and comparative immigration and refugee law and has co-authored a book on Canadian refugee law (Refugee Law, Irwin Law Book, 2007). She is the past President of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS).

Review :
’This useful edited collection brings together international perspectives on the use of inquisitorial processes in administrative law. Written by leading academics from different jurisdictions, it provides valuable comparative insights. It will be welcomed by academics, researchers and policy makers, and is an important addition to the literature on administrative justice.’ Mary Seneviratne, Nottingham Trent University, UK ’Departing from the traditional preoccupation with the principles of judicial review, this book is part of a new generation of administrative law scholarship that assesses the efficacy and implications of models of administrative process. The comparative perspective is particularly effective in drawing attention to the assumptions underlying different kinds of processes, and in reminding us to consider why we do things the way we do.’ Beth Bilson, University of Saskatchewan, Canada