Discuss (d) Reasoned decision

Meaning: natural justice is the common law's fairness principles — the minimum ethics of any decision-making that affects rights. NOT "natural law" (the philosophical confusion): the "natural" means the inherent, self-evident requirements of fair procedure — justice's instinctive minimums. Nature: Unwritten but binding: judge-made principles, applied even where statutes are silent; Universal across forums: binding the courts, the tribunals, and the administration itself wherever decisions affect rights; Flexible, not rigid: the principles adapt to the forum's character (the full trial vs. the administrative hearing) — but their core is non-negotiable; The violation's consequence: the decision void — fairness as validity, not courtesy. Scope of application: the judicial bodies (the courts' own trials); the quasi-judicial (every tribunal and adjudicating officer — Unit 6); the administrative decisions affecting rights (licences, benefits, penalties — the modern expansion into pure administration). The limits: legislative acts (rule- making's consultation differs — Unit 4.4.3); pure policy choices; the narrow emergency exceptions; the statutory exclusions (read narrowly — the courts resist the ouster of fairness).