The writ of certiorari and review of summary criminal convictions, 1660-1848

Judicial review now accounts for over one third of the applications submitted to the Queen’s Bench Division. Judicial review has ascended to this point of high prominence over the course of a four hundred year history. That history is the story of the progress since the sixteenth century of the prerogative writs – particularly certiorari and mandamus. Of these prerogative writs, it is certiorari which has the closest connection with the modern process of judicial review. In the early part of its history, from the seventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth century, the writ issued against a wide range of orders made by justices of the peace and specialist agencies like commissioners of sewers. The particular focus of this study is upon its use as a means of invalidating summary convictions.