Practice

Unrestricted statutory right of appeal from tribunal - permission requirement in rules of court not applying - appeal to High Court lying as of rightColley v Council for Licensed Conveyancers: CA (Sir Andrew Morritt V-C, Lords Justice May and Dyson): 17 July 2001The applicant was a licensed conveyancer against whom a number of complaints had been made.

An investigation of those complaints carried out by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers gave rise to two orders which the applicant sought to appeal to the High Court pursuant to section 26(7) of the Administration of Justice Act 1985.

The judge gave limited permission to appeal.

The applicant considered that his right of appeal was unrestricted and sought an order setting outside the judge's decision.Murray Hunt (instructed by Strachan Visick Limited) for the applicant; J David Cook (instructed by Reynolds Porter Chamberlain) for the council.Held, granting the relief sought, that the rules on permission to appeal contained in the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, rule 52.3 did not apply to statutory appeals and, although rule 52.3(1)(b) allowed a practice direction to extend the circumstances in which permission to appeal was required, the associated practice direction made no such provision; that the very general words contained in paragraph 17.2 of the practice direction were not sufficient to make the requirement for permission to appeal in rule 53.3 apply to statutory appeals; that the insertion of words into paragraph 17.2 to allow for a general requirement for permission to appeal could not be justified since that would cause a conflict with other provisions of the practice direction; and that, accordingly, the applicant had an unrestricted right to appeal to the High Court from a decision of the council.