JUDICIAL REVIEW AND CIVIL APPEALS: COMMON GROUNDS

Abstract A civil appeal from a judicial decision is different from a judicial review of an administrative decision. But how are they different, exactly? One common view is that the grounds of appeal are more extensive than the common law grounds of judicial review. Specifically, appeal concerns the merits of a decision whereas review concerns only its legality. I argue that this common view is false. All the grounds of appeal are, in fact, also grounds of review. The implication is that review concerns the merits of a decision at least as much as appeal does.