It is an important principle in administrative law that no man should be a judge in his own cause. In view of this principle, a judge is disqualified from determining any case in which he may be or may fairly be suspected to be biased. In a particular case, the Court of Chancery decided that the equity judge in Chester was incompetent to judge a case in which he himself was a party. The order of conviction was declared invalid where a vegetable seller was prosecuted for selling vegetables underweight to a local authority school and convicted by a magistrate who was a member of the authority’s education committee. The application of the European Convention on Human Rights entitles the affected persons, the right to the determination of their civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against them by an ‘independent and impartial tribunal’ established by law. Both the European Convention and common law consider ‘impartiality’ as fundamental characteristics of fair administrative procedure. Due to the lack of statutory provisions, English law could not come up to Convention standards of impartiality and independence in many cases. Though the rule against bias has been mostly concerned with decisions of courts of law, the rule was readily adapted to administrative actions as well.
