QUASI-JUDICIAL
quasi-judicial,adj. Of, relating to, or involving an executive or administrative official’s
adjudicative acts. • Quasi-judicial acts, which are valid if there is no abuse of discretion, often
determine the fundamental rights of citizens. They are subject to review by courts. [Cases:
Administrative Law and Procedure 108. C.J.S. Public Administrative Law and Procedure §§
10–11.]
“Quasi-judicial is a term that is … not easily definable. In the United States, the phrase often
covers judicial decisions taken by an administrative agency — the test is the nature of the tribunal
rather than what it is doing. In England quasi-judicial belongs to the administrative category and is
used to cover situations where the administrator is bound by the law to observe certain forms and
possibly hold a public hearing but where he is a free agent in reaching the final decision. If the
rules are broken, the determination may be set aside, but it is not sufficient to show that the
administration is biased in favour of a certain policy, or that the evidence points to a different
conclusion.” George Whitecross Paton, A Textbook of Jurisprudence 336 (G.W. Paton & David P.
Derham eds., 4th ed. 1972). [Blacks Law 8th]