Reason-giving for Procedural Decisions: The Case Against the Procedural Qualifier

1. Much of the contemporary academic writings on reason-giving in administrative law scholarship concern whether there may be ‘a general duty to give reasons’ in common law. The current position in English law is that no such general duty exists, although exceptionally the decision-maker may nevertheless be required by common law to give reasons. The present article does not seek to further this debate. It seeks instead to address a short point that has received scarce attention in the academic literature, but which can have significant theoretical and pragmatic implications on reason-giving in English administrative law. It is what I will call the ‘procedural qualifier’ to reason-giving. It will be contended here that the procedural qualifier to reason-giving should be rejected.