 The House of Lords held in "O'Reilly v Mackman" that where public law rights were at stake, the claimants could only proceed by way of judicial review.They could not originate their action under the general civil law procedure, because that would be avoiding the procedural safeguards afforded to public authorities by the judicial review procedure, such as the requirement of sufficient interest, timely submission and permission for judicial review.However, a defendant may still raise public law issues as a defence in civil proceedings.