Reason and authority in administrative law

Abstract

In judicial review of administrative action, the pivotal distinction between decisions about "jurisdiction" (for the reviewing court) and "the merits of the case" (for the administrative decision maker) is a source of much confusion. This article argues that jurisdiction should be understood as the scope of legitimate authority, the best theory of which is Joseph Raz's service conception of authority. As well as explaining how to determine jurisdiction, this article explains that a legitimate authority's intra-vires decision "pre-empts" the reviewing court's judgment on the merits, and that the concept of jurisdiction precludes any standard of reasonableness for reviewing a legitimate authority.