Natural justice has failed to kill off the adjudication process

摘要

Just when we hear the death-knell for adjudication, Mr Justice Rupert Jackson comes and puts a spanner in the works, writes Kim Franklin. There is a growing recognition that the beauty of adjudication is firmly in the eye of the beholder. The answer to the question 'is adjudication a good thing?' will depend entirely upon the identity or discipline of those questioned. Subcontractors, with their cash-flow needs, may see adjudication as a very good thing. Insurance companies, with other priorities, are less keen. Homeowners, if they are lucky, won't know what you are talking about. The answer to the question 'what is adjudication?' is even more revealing. In its infancy, lawyers were very exercised by the jurisprudential nature of the process. Non-lawyer adjudicators could not have cared less.