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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Legal intervention in planning regulations: Cooper v Wandsworth in a West African context
Author:Mensah, Kwadwo B.ISNI
Year:1996
Periodical:Afrika Focus
Volume:12
Issue:1-3
Pages:119-132
Language:English
Geographic term:West Africa
Subjects:customary law
urban planning
External link:https://doi.org/10.21825/af.v12i1-2-3.5598
Abstract:An important problem facing many West African cities is rapid urbanization. The pressure which this has had on public systems in general - sanitation, sewage, housing, health care and transport, has forced many cities to think of innovative ways of handling this crisis. Planning departments with expertise in urban problems are being set up to meet these new challenges. The powers that planning departments have, and their impact on the lives of ordinary citizens, cannot be overestimated. To prevent abuse of power and to make them responsive to the needs of citizens, several methods are used to control them. Judicial review of administrative actions is the legal method used to control many public bodies in English-speaking West African countries. The author argues that in spite of its strengths, there is a tendency to use judicial review to protect common law values like individual proprietary rights against the claims of State institutions. In West Africa, because of the weakness of public institutions, the intervention of the law, while protecting private rights, may hamper administrative effectiveness. Anticipating the use of the leading English case, Cooper v Wandsworth (second half of the 19th century), in reviewing planning decisions in West Africa, the author concludes that such a position may not only diminish administrative effectiveness, but it may also diminish property rights. Note, ref., sum.
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