Notes – Administrative Law
Maud van Deijne – Semester 2 Year 2
Overview
Week 1
- Introduction to the course
- Definition of administrative law
- The public interest
- Administrative law vs Bureaucracy
- General overview of the most influential systems of administrative law
around the world: French, German and Anglo-Saxonic Systems
Week 2
- Organization of the public administration and its evolution
- Concept of ‘regulator’ beyond the public administration
- Public vs private regulators
- Concept of public authority
Week 3
- Introduction to key systems of administrative law
- Comparative Administrative Law
Week 4
- Administrative action
- Discretionary decisions
Week 5
- Duty of diligence
- Government – citizen interactions
- Good administration
- The Ombudsman
Week 6
- Administrative Procedure
Week 7
- Global Administrative Law
Week 8
- Organization of judicial review
- Control in administrative law
Week 9
- Access to Court
- Standing
- Legal Aid
Week 10
- Grounds of review (illegality, irrationality, procedural impropriety)
- Review of discretionary decisions
Week 11
- Evidence
- Role of Experts & Amici Curiae
- Power of the Court to Decide Issues Ultra Petitia & Decide Ex Officio
Week 12
- Digital government
Week 13
- Remedies and consequences of court decisions
- Interim relief
1
, - Appellate proceedings
Week 14
- Review midterm exam + mock question
Week 1
2
,KC 1
Administrative law is deeply connected to constitutional law: con law provides a
framework of rights; admin law helps us better understand how to enforce them
Constitutions
Difficult to change
Provide us a ‘list’ of the rights we have
Only a framework
administrative law fills in this framework by specifying who is government and
what it does public authorities (eg mayor, prime minister, etc.) can be clear, but
many public authorities are not part of central government or centralized
government they are from companies from government, or individuals, etc.
difficult to identify, part of the course
Administrative action = method through which public authorities govern us.
Administrative decisions are moreso relevant, as administrative actions constitutes
a lot of irrelevant actions. Administrative decisions are an important concept in civil
law, as in many civil law jurisdictions without an administrative decision you don’t
have access to court
Good public administration was historically speaking not always obvious
sometimes you had to wait in line for a very long time, decisions take long, etc.
Standards of good administration have become increasingly important particular
institution that exists to allow citizens to complain about public authorities’ behaviour
which doesn’t comply with principles of good administration
Judicial review is another important pillar of the course!!
Administrative law is changing, and has changed a lot in the last decade by acquiring
a global dimension global administrative law the networks of different
institutions that allow us to delve and solve global problems such as climate change,
the regulation of international labour in sweatshops, etc.
also eg the automation of administrative law
Administrative law is a field of law that helps us understand how constitutional rights
are enforced, and is a field of law that allows us to be protected from abuses of public
institutions
Reading: S Cassese “New Paths for Administrative Law: A Manifesto” (2012)
10(3) International Journal of Constitutional Law 603
Two opposite trends:
“The end of administrative law”
- French and Belgian original
- Administrative law has lost is peculiarities (due to increasing difficulty in
defining its status and scope) and has become destabilized
- Globalization, constitutionalisation, destatization, privatization,
decentralization
“New administrative law”
- German observers
3
, - Change, modernisation and reform
- Focused on “steering” rather than on ordering, more open
- Requires new, more interdisciplinary, approach
Continuity and change
Mayer: “constitutional law passes, administrative law remains”
administrative law conceived as the domain of stability and continuity
Standpoint strengthened by dogmatic approach adopted by admirative law
scholarship in Europe admin law viewed as domain of stability and
continuity
Approaches used in the field possessed a high degree of stability paralleled
the idea of continuity in administrative institutions
last 20 years, both assumptions have obsoleted, and administrative institutions
have undergone impressive changes + new concepts and ideas have penetrated the
literature
Paper catalogues + briefly reviews the major changes that have occurred in Europe
over the last 20 years
Beyond the State
Mayer: “the administration is the activity of the State for the accomplishment of
its ends” originated as the product of the state, but has now become
dependent on other powers
See list of changes in globalization on p. 605/3
Growth of a global space and a global polity
Requires administrative law scholarship to be denationalized eg to
understand EU, it is necessary to draw inspiration from the imperial paradigm
rather than the state one
Beyond democracy
New sources of legitimacy are in search
Vertical accountability is increasingly juxtaposed to horizontal accountability
More participation instead of only delegation of power through elections
need for more participation, which require detailed procedural regulations
(administrative decisions no longer take centre stage and have been replaced by
procedure
Private vs public
De-emphasized and blurred public-private divide (reasons on p. 607/5) eg
contracts between state and private persons, dependence of state on
collaboration with civil society
Social welfare has become a privatized/commercial/for-profit field
fragmentation of the state state-owned enterprises, market-oriented
regulation, etc.
Necessary to study the ambiguities and richness of the interconnections
between public and private law
The “administrative machine”
4
Maud van Deijne – Semester 2 Year 2
Overview
Week 1
- Introduction to the course
- Definition of administrative law
- The public interest
- Administrative law vs Bureaucracy
- General overview of the most influential systems of administrative law
around the world: French, German and Anglo-Saxonic Systems
Week 2
- Organization of the public administration and its evolution
- Concept of ‘regulator’ beyond the public administration
- Public vs private regulators
- Concept of public authority
Week 3
- Introduction to key systems of administrative law
- Comparative Administrative Law
Week 4
- Administrative action
- Discretionary decisions
Week 5
- Duty of diligence
- Government – citizen interactions
- Good administration
- The Ombudsman
Week 6
- Administrative Procedure
Week 7
- Global Administrative Law
Week 8
- Organization of judicial review
- Control in administrative law
Week 9
- Access to Court
- Standing
- Legal Aid
Week 10
- Grounds of review (illegality, irrationality, procedural impropriety)
- Review of discretionary decisions
Week 11
- Evidence
- Role of Experts & Amici Curiae
- Power of the Court to Decide Issues Ultra Petitia & Decide Ex Officio
Week 12
- Digital government
Week 13
- Remedies and consequences of court decisions
- Interim relief
1
, - Appellate proceedings
Week 14
- Review midterm exam + mock question
Week 1
2
,KC 1
Administrative law is deeply connected to constitutional law: con law provides a
framework of rights; admin law helps us better understand how to enforce them
Constitutions
Difficult to change
Provide us a ‘list’ of the rights we have
Only a framework
administrative law fills in this framework by specifying who is government and
what it does public authorities (eg mayor, prime minister, etc.) can be clear, but
many public authorities are not part of central government or centralized
government they are from companies from government, or individuals, etc.
difficult to identify, part of the course
Administrative action = method through which public authorities govern us.
Administrative decisions are moreso relevant, as administrative actions constitutes
a lot of irrelevant actions. Administrative decisions are an important concept in civil
law, as in many civil law jurisdictions without an administrative decision you don’t
have access to court
Good public administration was historically speaking not always obvious
sometimes you had to wait in line for a very long time, decisions take long, etc.
Standards of good administration have become increasingly important particular
institution that exists to allow citizens to complain about public authorities’ behaviour
which doesn’t comply with principles of good administration
Judicial review is another important pillar of the course!!
Administrative law is changing, and has changed a lot in the last decade by acquiring
a global dimension global administrative law the networks of different
institutions that allow us to delve and solve global problems such as climate change,
the regulation of international labour in sweatshops, etc.
also eg the automation of administrative law
Administrative law is a field of law that helps us understand how constitutional rights
are enforced, and is a field of law that allows us to be protected from abuses of public
institutions
Reading: S Cassese “New Paths for Administrative Law: A Manifesto” (2012)
10(3) International Journal of Constitutional Law 603
Two opposite trends:
“The end of administrative law”
- French and Belgian original
- Administrative law has lost is peculiarities (due to increasing difficulty in
defining its status and scope) and has become destabilized
- Globalization, constitutionalisation, destatization, privatization,
decentralization
“New administrative law”
- German observers
3
, - Change, modernisation and reform
- Focused on “steering” rather than on ordering, more open
- Requires new, more interdisciplinary, approach
Continuity and change
Mayer: “constitutional law passes, administrative law remains”
administrative law conceived as the domain of stability and continuity
Standpoint strengthened by dogmatic approach adopted by admirative law
scholarship in Europe admin law viewed as domain of stability and
continuity
Approaches used in the field possessed a high degree of stability paralleled
the idea of continuity in administrative institutions
last 20 years, both assumptions have obsoleted, and administrative institutions
have undergone impressive changes + new concepts and ideas have penetrated the
literature
Paper catalogues + briefly reviews the major changes that have occurred in Europe
over the last 20 years
Beyond the State
Mayer: “the administration is the activity of the State for the accomplishment of
its ends” originated as the product of the state, but has now become
dependent on other powers
See list of changes in globalization on p. 605/3
Growth of a global space and a global polity
Requires administrative law scholarship to be denationalized eg to
understand EU, it is necessary to draw inspiration from the imperial paradigm
rather than the state one
Beyond democracy
New sources of legitimacy are in search
Vertical accountability is increasingly juxtaposed to horizontal accountability
More participation instead of only delegation of power through elections
need for more participation, which require detailed procedural regulations
(administrative decisions no longer take centre stage and have been replaced by
procedure
Private vs public
De-emphasized and blurred public-private divide (reasons on p. 607/5) eg
contracts between state and private persons, dependence of state on
collaboration with civil society
Social welfare has become a privatized/commercial/for-profit field
fragmentation of the state state-owned enterprises, market-oriented
regulation, etc.
Necessary to study the ambiguities and richness of the interconnections
between public and private law
The “administrative machine”
4
