Significance
The potential power of this dissenting judgment was clearly recognised even before it was published. The Lord Chancellor, Viscount Simon, wrote to Lord Atkin asking him to amend the proposed terms of the speech. He did not.
Atkin's interpretation has generally been preferred subsequently. In Nakkuda Ali v Jayaratne a strong Privy Council held that Liversidge v. Anderson must not be taken to lay down any general rule on the construction of the expression "has reasonable cause to believe". Subsequently Liversidge v Anderson was described by Lord Reid in Ridge v Baldwin as a "very peculiar decision". Lord Diplock in I.R.C. v Rossminster Ltd thought that "the time has come to acknowledge openly that the majority of this House in Liversidge v Anderson were expediently and, at that time, perhaps, excusably, wrong and the dissenting speech of Lord Atkin was right".
However, in the 1977 deportation case of R v. Secretary of State ex parte Hosenball, Lord Denning MR, in the Court of Appeal, supported judicial non-interference with ministerial discretion in matters of national security.
Read more about this topic: Liversidge V Anderson
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