LAW5605 Administrative Law — Unit 1: Theoretical Understanding on Administrative Law

Unit 1: Theoretical Understanding on Administrative Law

1.1 Meaning, Nature, Need and Signification of Administrative Law

Administrative law — the law of administration: the rules governing the administration’s organisation, powers, duties-and-limits — and the citizen’s protection against its excesses. Dicey’s classic frame: “the law relating to the administration” — the modern definition’s growth: the administrative process’s law (the fourth branch’s constitution). The nature: the public-law creature (the state’s organs — not the private parties’ relations); the judge-made-and-statutory mix; the control-law (the administration’s checking) + the enable-law (the administration’s empowering) — the double face. The need (the welfare state’s reality): the administrative state’s growth (the regulation, the services, the licensing — the modern state’s breadth demands the modern control); the individual’s protection (the power’s potential abuse); the good-governance agenda (the accountability, the transparency, the efficiency). The significance: the citizen-and-state relation’s daily law (the permit, the licence, the service, the tax — every interface governed).

1.2 Relevancy and Difference between Constitutional and Administrative Law

The difference (the exam’s classic): the constitutional law — the state’s structure (the organs’ creation, the powers’ allocation, the rights’ fundamentals — the grand architecture); the administrative law — the administration’s working (the machinery’s operation, the powers’ exercise — the working detail). The connections: the constitutional foundations (the administrative law flows from the constitution — the rule-of-law-and-separation anchors); the interpretation’s overlap (the Art 133/137 review as the constitutional-and-administrative bridge); the relevancy: the administrative law as the constitution-in-action — the rights’ practical realization (the fair hearing at the office as the due-process promise’s fulfilment).

1.3 Scope of Administrative Law

1. The administration’s organisation (the ministries-departments-and-bodies).
2. The powers’ allocation (the rule-making — the delegated legislation; the decision-making — the adjudication; the administration proper — the execution).
3. The discretion’s control (U6).
4. The quasi-judicial bodies (U5).
5. The remedies (U9) — the citizen’s routes.
6. The accountability institutions (U8) — the ombudsman-and-commissions.
7. The public services’ law (the employment-and-service faces — the PSC interface).

1.4 Sources of Administrative Law

1. The Constitution (the supreme source: the organs’ provisions, the rights, the review jurisdiction).
2. The statutes (the enabling acts — every administrative power’s parent; the procedure acts).
3. The delegated legislation (the rules-regulations-and-by-laws — U3.3-U4).
4. The judicial decisions (the writ jurisprudence — the SC’s administrative case law).
5. The customs-and-practice (the administrative usage; the precedents’ conventions).
6. The international-and-comparative faces (the treaties’ administrative implementation; the borrowed doctrines — the droit administratif’s influence of U2.2.14).

Model Questions

1. Define administrative law and explain its need and significance. (10)
2. Distinguish constitutional from administrative law. (10)
3. Explain the scope and sources of administrative law. (10)

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