Just Words? Judicial Reasons as Remedy in Administrative Law

This article examines how judicial reasons function remedially in administrative law following Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov. While reasons traditionally explain decisions, they have always had a remedial function through their normative and expressive force. Vavilov’s “culture of justification” increased the remedial function of reasons by making them central not only to judicial oversight but to administrative decision-making itself. In this post-Vavilov framework, courts now write reasons that not only justify outcomes but provide the framework for administrative redetermination, transforming them into functional remedies.