Case Number

HCJ 1/49

Date Decided

2-10-1949

Decision Type

Original

Document Type

Full Opinion

Abstract

A judgment upon the Respondents’ objection to an order nisi requiring that they refrain from forbidding petition writers from appearing and acting as agents of their clients in the offices of the Tel Aviv District Traffic Department. In making the order absolute, Justice S.Z. Cheshin, writing for the Court, held:

The High Court of Justice cannot grant a request unless it is persuaded that a right of the Petitioners themselves has been infringed – In requesting an order mandamus, the Petitioner must show the existence of a law that requires the public official to do that which he is being demanded to do – In the case of a request to refrain from a particular act, the Petitioner must show that he is vested with the right to do what he seeks to do, and the public official must prove that his action, intended to prevent the exercise of that right, is lawful – Every person has the natural right to pursue the work or occupation that he has chosen for himself, as long as practicing that work or occupation is not prohibited by law – A profession or trade in regard to which the legislature has imposed limitations or restrictions in the form of preconditions for practitioners cannot be pursued unless the practitioner has first met those preconditions – Public servants and bodies, by virtue of their very function, may not interfere with an individual’s pursuit of his trade where that trade is not prohibited by law – The Traffic Ministry is a public department whose doors must be open to all – Where the law does not require the personal appearance of the vehicle owners, a person’s agent is like the person himself – A public servant is not authorized to preclude the work of an agent acting by right and for a fee, by administrative action without investigation and examination – In the absence of express or implied legal authority, the prohibition to pursue the work or occupation has no justification whatsoever.

Keywords

Constitutional Law -- Basic Law: Freedom of Occupation

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