R v Jockey Club, ex p Aga Khan (1993)

Court: Court of Appeal

Facts: The Aga Khan, a prominent and wealthy horse owner, sought to register his horses for racing with the Jockey Club, which is the regulatory body for horse racing in the UK. After being denied registration, he initiated a judicial review action, arguing that the Jockey Club's decision was akin to the situation in R v Panel on Takeovers, ex p Datafin and should therefore be subject to judicial review.

Issue: Whether the decisions made by the Jockey Club, as a private organization, could be subjected to judicial review under the same principles applied to public bodies.

Held: The Court of Appeal held that the Jockey Club did not possess governmental power and thus its decisions were not amenable to judicial review. The Court distinguished the Jockey Club's regulatory role from the public functions considered in Datafin, concluding that the Jockey Club operated within the realm of private law rather than public law.

Key Judicial Statements: Lord Justice Beldam stated: “The Jockey Club is not a public body exercising governmental functions; it is a private organization that regulates its own affairs. Its decisions, therefore, do not fall within the scope of judicial review” [9].

💡 LevelupLaw: clarifies the boundaries of judicial review, emphasizing that private organizations, even those with regulatory roles, are not automatically subject to judicial scrutiny unless they wield governmental powers. It reinforces the distinction between public and private law in the context of regulatory decision-making.