The narrow approach to substantive legitimate expectations and the trend of modern authority

ABSTRACT In the recent Privy Council decision of United Policyholders Group v Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago, Lord Carnwath supplied an interesting and helpful discussion of substantive legitimate expectations. This case note reflects on Lord Carnwath’s conclusions and how they speak to important current debates about the doctrine. In particular, it will be argued that Lord Carnwath’s conclusions provoke reflection on: (a) the status of the seminal Coughlan case in contemporary thinking about the doctrine; (b) how far claims about the advent of the protection of substantive expectations representing a worrying expansion of judicial power have been properly investigated; (c) whether it is necessary to reflect deeply on the theoretical basis of the principle; and (d) the defensibility of the ‘trend of modern authority’ to interpret the dicta in the Coughlan case ‘narrowly’.