Time, Public Perceptions of Procedural Fairness, and Legal Theory

The state requires the public to engage with a broad range of administrative agencies that make decisions about their entitlements, needs and obligations. The procedural fairness of these decision-making processes is a major concern of legal doctrine and legal theory. Yet, two important issues remain neglected within legal work on procedural fairness: (1) time's relationship to fairness; and (2) public perceptions of fairness' relationship to legal theory. This project addresses these issues.

A major challenge facing administrative agencies concerns the time taken to make decisions. On the one hand, there is the problem of perceived delay within public administration, causing distress and anxiety for service users. On the other hand, under pressure of time, decision-making processes can also be deemed too quick, raising concerns that service users' situations have not been properly considered.

This project will conduct empirical research with people who have undergone administrative processes about the significance of time for their perceptions of procedural fairness with a view to informing an assessment of the significance of time for legal accounts of procedural fairness. It will then conduct a critical assessment of the role of public perceptions for legal theory around procedural fairness.