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Principles of natural justice

If an adjudicator breaches the rules of natural justice during the adjudication then the decision may be a nullity if the breach is serious.

There are three well-known facets to the principle of natural justice:

1. •

   no one should be a judge in their own cause

2. •

   a party should be informed of the allegations against it and be given an opportunity to answer those allegations

3. •

   a party is entitled to have its case heard by an unbiased and impartial tribunal

In practice, a dispute concerning the first of these three facets of natural justice type is extremely unlikely to arise in a construction adjudication. If there were any sign that an adjudicator had to decide on the propriety of their own conduct, the adjudicator would most likely resign. For information on an adjudicator's resignation, see Practice Note: Resignation by the adjudicator.

The courts have given guidance as to what is required for a breach of natural justice on a number of occasions. The key Court of Appeal cases