The Provenance and Protection of Legitimate Expectations

The concept of legitimate expectation first stepped onto the English law stage eighteen years ago in Schmidt v. Secretary of State for Home Affairs . There Lord Denning said obiter that an alien who had been given leave to enter the United Kingdom for a limited period had a “legitimate expectation of being allowed to stay for the permitted time” and, hence, if that permission was “revoked before the time limit expires, the alien ought to be given an opportunity of making representations to the Home Secretary”. Since then “legitimate expectation” has played an important part in numerous decisions in both the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (particularly Australasia).