,Lieke Spruit (16030575) Administrative Law Study Guide
Lecture 1
Definition of Administrative Law
Administrative is the total of all legal rules legitimating the fulfilment of public duties by the
administration.
• The provisions are influenced by traditions and constitutional values of the particular country.
Scope of the subject
• General administrative law – common provisions
o Negative (control): preventing the abuse of power
o Positive (contributing to achieving normative aims): taking the economic and societal
interest into account when making decisions.
• Specific administrative law – regulation to specific actors
• Institutional administrative law – organization of public administration
Continental Europe
In this part of the world, the scope of administrative law is defined as the powers and organization of
the executive organ.
The distinctive mission of public law in Continental Europe is that public law is concerned with the
common good, not private advantage.
• The state is given special powers and is authorized to act only if it serves the public good.
o E.g. emergency powers → the state is authorized to restrict the rights of individuals
without their consent in order to promote the common good.
Development of administrative law
• Start of development in late 19th century
• Caused by several factors
o Industrialisation
o Urbanisation
o Change to welfare state
o Inadequacy of law and courts (need for experts and speeding up treatment of cases)
Distinctiveness of administrative law
• Public law
o It exercises its function in the name of the state
o It carries out public law objectives
• Private law
o Compensation for damages
o Public procurement
The mission to promote the common good may not only authorize the state to interfere with the rights
of individuals, but may confer on the state special privileges.
• E.g. public service: a public provider is exempt from many of the restrictions of competition law
in order to enable it to provide a service in the general interest.
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,Lieke Spruit (16030575) Administrative Law Study Guide
The core relations of public law are those between the state, the citizen, and the general interest. The
relationships between the state and its citizens involve the authority of the state to impose duties and
burdens unilaterally, but also its duty to afford protection, respect and participation to the citizen, and
all this in a context of the state determining and implementing the common good.
Constitutional values and fundamental rights
Public law is concerned with the duties and powers of the public administration to serve the common
good. Constitutionally, the public administration is subordinate to the legislate power and must
comply with higher norms within the legal order.
The fundamental principles governing the administration derive from constitutional law, since
this establishes the principal powers and functions of government.
Rule of law
Different understandings are used among different legal systems.
• Common law tradition: an administrative act is authorized by a higher norm.
o Dicey: the rule of law emphasized the absence of privileges for the administration and
the subordination of the administration to the ordinary law of the land.
• French conception: the idea that all public power is limited by the legal rules which it is bound
to respect. It offers the control of power through law.
• German conception: the idea that the administration is given power by the law and is
constrained by it.
→ the divergence in uses of the terminology provides much potential for confusion. All the same,
these different terms convey some common liberal messages – that the administration is not free to
act as it deems to be right in terms of efficiency or to achieve political goals. The administration has to
remain within the constraints set out by law.
Fundamental rights
Many constitutions, particularly those drafted since 1945, contain enumerations of fundamental rights.
These set out further values that the administration must respect (and actively promote). Some simply
set in parallel the impact of a specific human rights instrument on national laws.
Functions of administrative law
• Protector – of e.g. environment.
• Provider – of social opportunities, e.g. jobs.
• Entrepreneur – it hires companies to fulfil tasks that they are specialised in.
• Economic controller – to regulate economic activitiy.
• Arbiter – to create rights and obligations by making decisions.
Administrative authorities
• De-concentration
o Representative of the central government of the region
• De-centralisation
o Territorial or functional transfer of competences
o Enjoy some level of independence
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, Lieke Spruit (16030575) Administrative Law Study Guide
In the Netherlands
Local authorities consist of 418 municipalities.
• Administrative organs
o Local council
o College of mayor and aldermen
o The mayor
Division of competences
Local Intermediary Regional
Public transport Road building Economic development
Social services Secondary education Higher education
Housing Employment Social policy
Environment Health Road management
Primary education
Administrative actors
Governmental Non- International
governmental
Council of
Central Regional / Private EU
NGOs Europe
(federal) local companies
Independent
agencies Citizens
Independent agencies
• Enjoy a high degree of independence
• Established to execute public tasks
o Control of state activities
o Regulation of markets
• Independence can lead to problems of accountability
Non-state actors
E.g. citizens, companies, NGOs
• Subjects of administrative decisions
• Initiators of administrative proceedings (e.g. request a building permit)
• Participants of administrative proceedings (e.g. as witness)
• Assess the functioning of the administration through a system of complaints (e.g. the
Ombudsman)
Their influence steadily increases due to the easy access of information.
International actors
e.g. EU, OECD, Council of Europe
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