"41(1) Nothing in Parts II to IV shall render unlawful any act of discrimination done-
"Save in the cases and circumstances specified in Schedule 4, no person shall be employed as a teacher at a school unless he is qualified therefor as mentioned in Schedule 5; and references in this Part to a qualified or unqualified teacher shall, subject to paragraph (2), be construed accordingly."
"1(1) A person shall be qualified to be employed as a teacher at a school for the purpose of Regulation 13 (subject to paragraph (2) thereof) if either:
"This argument, which succeeded below, is incontrovertible if the words 'in pursuance of any instrument' are apt in their context to include, not only acts done in necessary performance of an express obligation contained in the instrument ('the narrow construction') but also acts done in exercise of a power or discretion conferred by the instrument ('the wide construction'). Both constructions ate possible."
"While, therefore, both constructions are possible, I accept that the wide construction is the more natural meaning of the words used. I turn, therefore, to consider whether there is anything in the context which leads to an indication that the narrow construction is here correct."
"In one sense any act done by a body or authority which is the creature of statute can be said to be done 'in pursuance of, that is to say under or by virtue of, statute. Although it is obvious that an immunity provision cannot be construed as widely as that without defeating the object of the statute, it is still the case that in conventional legislative usage the expression 'in pursuance of is as apt to be related to an act done in exercise of a specific power as it is to one done in performance of a specific duty."
"It was however submitted by Mr. Sedley, and I quote from his skeleton argument:
'section 41 is limited to acts required to be done by or under statute and does not protect administratively chosen requirements or conditions which represent one of a variety of possible modes of doing those acts. If the chosen mode is the only one reasonably available for the necessary purpose it may be protected by the defence of justifiability not by section 41.'
"(1) Nothing in Parts II to IV shall render unlawful any act done by a person if it was necessary for him to do it in order to comply with a requirement-fa) of an Act passed before this Act; or
"It cannot be doubted that his receipt of the applicant's application for qualified teacher status brought the Secretary of State under a specific duty either to approve or to disapprove her teacher training course within paragraph 2( b )( i ) of Schedule 5 to the Regulations of 1982. Accordingly, the question previously supposed would only seem to arise if it can be said that the power to give or withhold approval gave the decision the status of an act done in exercise of a specific power. I do not think that it can. A power to give or withhold approval is not a power to give or withhold a decision. It is a power to choose between two decisions, one of which must be made. In substance it is not a power at all. It is a duty to do one or other of two things. Whichever it is that is done will be an act done in pursuance of the Regulations of 1982. On this analysis, confining myself to the terms of section 41, I am of the opinion that the disapproval of the applicant's teacher training course was an act of discrimination done in pursuance of an instrument - the Regulations of 1982 -made under an enactment - theEducation Act 1980 - by a Minister of the Crown within section 41(1)( b ) of theRace Relations Act 1976 ."
"Having made the Regulations which cast on him the duty to consider applications and in so doing the duty to consider and decide on certain matters, it is at first sight difficult to see how it could be contended that, when what he did was only to decide the very matters he was obliged to decide, he could be said to have been acting otherwise than in pursuance of the Regulations."
"I can think of no construction of section 41 intermediate between the wide and the narrow construction which would meet the difficulties considered above, nor was any suggested. Further, there are sound policy reasons for the narrow construction. If an enactment, Order in Council or statutory instrument imposes requirements compliance with which may lead to racial discrimination, those requirements can be debated in Parliament and their justification considered there. Similarly if a Minister of the Crown imposes a condition or requirement compliance with which could lead to racial discrimination - see section 41( l )( c ) of the Act of 1976 - he can be made answerable in Parliament for his action. If what is done is not necessary to comply with a statutory requirement, then there can be no valid reason why it should not have to be justified before an industrial tribunal."
"I can understand the difficulty of the Inland Revenue in dealing with the problem. To what extent should they insist on the production of birth certificates? There is a way out given bysection 41(2) of the Race Relations Act 1976 : 'Nothing . . . . shall render unlawful any act whereby a person discriminates against another ... if that act is done - ( a ) in pursuance of any arrangements made ... by or with the approval of . . . a Minister of the Crown ... • If the appropriate Minister of the Crown should think that arrangements should be made for insisting in certain circumstances on the production of a full birth certificate, that could be made perfectly lawful by an arrangement sanctioned by the Minister under section 41. It seems to me that that would be the right way to do it. The Minister should take responsibility for it. He can be asked questions in Parliament about it. That is the way in which the problem can be solved."