R v Cornwall County Council ex-parte Huntingdon [1992] All ER 566 concerned the making of a Public Right of Way Order by a County Council under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The Act provided that a person aggrieved by the making of such an Order could within 42 days from the publication of the Order make an application to the High Court. Further it was provided that otherwise the validity of the Order “shall not be questioned in any legal proceedings whatsoever.”
Mann LJ described the statutory provision as “a standard form of preclusive clause” and stated that when such paragraphs are used: “….the legislative intention is that questions as to invalidity may be raised on the specified grounds in the prescribed time and in the prescribed manner, but that otherwise the jurisdiction of the Court is excluded in the interest of certainty.”
