Murcott, MelanieVan der Westhuizen, Werner2018-08-032018-08-032017Murcott, M. & Van der Westthuizen, W. 2017, 'The ebb and flow of the application of the principle of subsidiarity – critical reflections on Motau and My Vote Counts', Constitutional Court Review, vol. 7, pp. 43-67."2073-6215http://hdl.handle.net/2263/66070Under the current constitutional dispensation the judiciary is not only constitutionally authorised, but also constitutionally obliged, to oversee exercises of public power; including the conduct of the executive.1 It does so through judicial review. In judicial review proceedings, courts must follow a principled and justified approach to choosing the appropriate standards on a possible ‘continuum of constitutional accountability’ against which impugned exercises of public power should be measured. This is what is demanded by the separationof- powers doctrine: courts ought not to invoke legal norms formalistically or arbitrarily when reviewing public power.en© Juta and Company (Pty) LtdJudiciaryPublic powerExecutiveJudicial reviewArticle