Local Government - July 2009

R on the Application of E v the Governing Body of JFS and the Admissions Appeal Panel of JFS & Others and R on the Application of E v The Office of the Schools Adjudicator & Others [2009].

A 12-year old boy applied to attend the Jews’ Free School (JFS) but was rejected as the school did not recognise the validity of the mother’s conversion to Judaism.

Two claims for judicial review were brought alleging JFS’s admission policy to be discriminatory.

The Court of Appeal considered that JFS, by choosing to admit only children whom the Office of the Chief Rabbi (OCR) considered as Jewish, discriminated in its allocation of places. Refusal of admission was less favourable treatment within the meaning of the Race Relations Act 1976 (RRA).

The Court applied the principles in Mandla –v- Dowell-Lee [1983] 2 AC 548  and concluded that Jews constituted a racial group defined principally by ethnic origin and additionally by conversion and to discriminate against a person on the ground that they, or someone else, was not Jewish was therefore to discriminate against them on racial grounds.

The Court of Appeal held that JFS’s refusal to admit the child was less favourable treatment on racial grounds.

Mandy Higgins is an Associate in the Liverpool team, mandy.higgins@weightmans.com.