page_title: R. v. North and East Devon Health Authority, ex parte Coughlan
section_title: Decision of the Court of Appeal
hierarchical_section_title: R. v. North and East Devon Health Authority, ex parte Coughlan / Decision of the Court of Appeal
caption_attribution_description: English: The Royal Courts of Justice in London, England, UK. Français&#160;: Cour Royale de Justice, Londres.
context_page_description: R. v. North and East Devon Health Authority, ex parte Coughlan is a seminal case decided by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in 1999 which clarified the court's role in relation to cases which involve substantive legitimate expectations. The Court held that when reviewing a decision of a public authority which is contrary to a prior assurance or representation by the authority, its role is not always limited to assessing if the decision is Wednesbury unreasonable or irrational. In some situations, it is entitled to determine whether it is fair to compel the authority to fulfil its representation, or whether there is a sufficient overriding public interest which justifies allowing the authority to depart from the promise made.
  The case involved a severely disabled lady, Miss Coughlan, who was receiving nursing care in Mardon House, a National Health Service facility managed by the North and East Devon Health Authority. The Authority had made several representations to her that she would be able to live out her days in Mardon House. Subsequently, the Health Authority decided to shut the facility down as the cost of operating it was becoming excessive.
context_section_description: In a judgment delivered on 16 July 1999 Lord Woolf, the Master of the Rolls, speaking on behalf of the Court of Appeal, upheld the judgment of the High Court. He held that Coughlan had established a legitimate expectation of a substantive nature as a result of the promise made by the Health Authority to the patients who had agreed to move from Newcourt Hospital to Mardon House. The legitimate expectation arose from the fact that the promise made to Coughlan had been specific to those premises, expressly made to a small group of people within the same category, conveyed in unqualified terms, and repeated and confirmed in representations made to the group.
  The Health Authority was unable to show that there were overriding public interest considerations which warranted a departure from the promise. The Court also took into account the fact that the Authority had failed to mention any alternative accommodation to be offered to the applicant. Thus, it concluded that the decision to close Mardon House constituted unfairness amounting to an abuse of power.
caption: The Royal Courts of Justice in London, which house the High Court and the Court of Appeal. In the Ex parte Coughlan case, both of these courts agreed that substantive legitimate expectation is a ground of judicial review in administrative law its own right.
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