Administrative law is a division of law governing the activities of executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law includes executive branch rulemaking (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regulations"), adjudication, and the enforcement of laws. Administrative law is considered a branch of public law.
Administrative law deals with the decision-making of administrative units of government that are part of the executive branch in such areas as international trade, manufacturing, the environment, taxation, broadcasting, immigration, and transport.
Administrative law expanded greatly during the 20th century, as legislative bodies worldwide created more government agencies to regulate the social, economic and political spheres of human interaction.
Civil law countries often have specialized administrative courts that review these decisions.
In the last fifty years, administrative law, in many countries of the civil law tradition, has opened itself to the influence of rules posed by supranational legal orders, in which judicial principles have strong importance: it has led, for one, to changes in some traditional concepts of the administrative law model, as has happened with the public procurements or with judicial control of administrative activity and, for another, has built a supranational or international public administration, as in the environmental sector or with reference to education, for which, within the United Nations' system, it has been possible to assist to a further increase of administrative structure devoted to coordinate the States' activity in that sector.Sabino Cassese, "Administrative Law without the State? The Challenge of Global Regulation", 37 New York University Journal of International Law and Politics, 2005, p. 663 and ff., Vincenzo Ferraro, L'organizzazione della pubblica amministrazione scolastica. La peculiare integrazione tra gli ordinamenti globali, internazionali e sovranazionali, Torino, 2023,
In civil law countries
Unlike most common law jurisdictions, most civil law jurisdictions have specialized courts or sections to deal with administrative cases that as a rule apply procedural rules that are specifically designed for such cases and distinct from those applied in private law proceedings, such as contract or tort claims.
Brazil
In Brazil, administrative cases are typically heard either by the Federal Courts (in matters concerning the Federal Union) or by the Public Treasury divisions of State Courts (in matters concerning the States). In 1998 a constitutional reform led by the government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso introduced regulatory agencies as a part of the executive branch. Since 1988, Brazilian administrative law has been strongly influenced by the judicial interpretations of the constitutional principles of public administration (Art. 37 of the Federal Constitution): legality, impersonality, publicity of administrative acts, morality and efficiency.
Chile
In Chile, the President of the Republic exercises the administrative function, in collaboration with several ministries or other authorities with ministerial rank. Each ministry has one or more under-secretaries that act through public service to meet public needs. There is no single specialized court to deal with actions against the administrative entities, but there are several specialized courts and procedures of review.
China
Administrative law in China was virtually non-existent in its modern sense before the economic reform era initiated by Deng Xiaoping. Since the 1980s China has constructed a new legal framework for administrative law, establishing control mechanisms for overseeing the bureaucracy, and disciplinary committees for the Chinese Communist Party.
In 1989, China established its Administrative Litigation Law, which provides an avenue for people to challenge government action. In 2014, it was amended to lower the burdens on those challenging administrative actions.
In 1990, the Administrative Supervision Regulations (行政检查条例) and the Administrative Reconsideration Regulations (行政复议条例) were passed. The 1993 State Civil Servant Provisional Regulations (国家公务员暂行条例) changed the way government officials were selected and promoted, requiring that they pass exams and yearly appraisals, and introducing a rotation system. The three regulations have been amended and upgraded into laws. In 1994, the State Compensation Law (国家赔偿法) was passed, followed by the Administrative Penalties Law (行政处罚法) in 1996. Administrative Compulsory Law was enforced in 2012. The General Administrative Procedure Law is underway.
France
In France, there is a dual jurisdictional system with the judiciary branch responsible for civil law and criminal law, and the administrative branch having jurisdiction when a government institution is involved.
Most claims against the national or local governments as well as claims against private bodies providing public servicesC.E, 31 juillet 1912, Société des Granits Porphyroïdes des Vosges and C.E, Sect., 19 octobre 1956, Société Le Béton are handled by administrative courts, which use the Conseil d'État (Council of State) as a court of last resort for both ordinary and special courts.C.E, Ass., 7 février 1947, Aillières and C.E, Ass., 12 juillet 1969, L'Étang The main administrative courts are the tribunaux administratifs and appeal courts are the cours administratives d'appel. Special administrative courts include the National Court of Asylum Right as well as military, medical and judicial disciplinary bodies. The French body of administrative law is called "droit administratif".
Over the course of their history, France's administrative courts have developed an extensive and coherent case law (jurisprudence constante) and legal doctrine ( and ), often before similar concepts were enshrined in constitutional and legal texts. These principes include:
Right to fair trial (droit à la défense),C.E, Sect., 6 mai 1944, Dame Veuve Trompier-Gravier and CE, Ass, 26 octobre 1945, Aramu including for internal disciplinary bodies Right to challenge any administrative decision before an administrative court (droit au recours)C.E, Ass., 17 février 1950, Ministre de l'agriculture c/ Dame Lamotte Equal treatment of public service users (égalité devant le service public)C.E, Sect., 28 juin 1948, Société du Journal l'Aurore Equal access to government employment (égalité d'accès à la fonction publique) without regard for political opinionsC.E, Ass., 28 mai 1954, Barrel Freedom of association (liberté d'association) Right to entrepreneurship (Liberté du Commerce et de l'industrie, lit. freedom of commerce and industry)C.E, Ass., 22 juin 1951, Daudignac Right to legal certainty (Droit à la sécurité juridique)C.E, Ass., 24 mars 2006, Sté KPMG et autres
French administrative law, the basis of continental administrative law, has had a strong influence on administrative laws in several other countries such as Belgium, Greece, Turkey and Tunisia.
Germany In Germany, administrative law () includes all law that specifically governs the legal relationships between public authorities and private persons, and that is not more precisely described as constitutional law. It sets out the tasks, aims and powers, as well as the organization and procedure, for all public authorities (). As a field of legal study, administrative law has been differentiated from other branches of public law since the late 19th century in Germany;H. P. Bull and V. Mehde, Allgemeines Verwaltungsrecht mit Verwaltungslehre [Generally Applicable Administrative Law, Also Comprising the Study of Administration], 10th ed. (Heidelberg: C.F. Müller, 2022), at margin notes 501 and 502. the precise delimitations of "administration" as a concept, however, are in contention. Administrative law defines all aspects of public administration in the modern German state, whose legal culture emphasizes private persons' subjective rights (also, pursuant to art. 19 of the current German Constitution of 1949, such rights must be fully justiciable). The final say on the interpretation of the law lies with the courts of administrative jurisdiction (), and the law usually permits close judicial scrutiny of public authorities' exercise of discretion.M. Jestaedt, "Maßstäbe des Verwaltungshandelns" [Yardsticks of Administrative Action] in D. Ehlers; H. Pünder (eds.), Allgemeines Verwaltungsrecht [Generally Applicable Administrative Law], 16th ed. (Heidelberg: C.F. Müller, 2022), § 22, passim.
Constitutional context Central legal principles of the Rechtsstaat (rule of law) that pervade administration ‒ mostly developed before the adoption of the modern 1949 Constitution, but strengthened and expanded after its advent by their new conceptual foundation ‒ include:Cf. S. Detterbeck, Allgemeines Verwaltungsrecht [Generally Applicable Administrative Law], 21st ed. (Munich: C.H. Beck, 2023), at margin notes 226 et seqq. The principle of the lawfulness of the executive (): administrative authorities are bound to act where a law (of parliament, or of delegated legislation) prescribes it, and to not violate any laws (artt. 1 and 20 of the Constitution). Where its actions may burden or comparatively disadvantage a person, they must rest on a grant of authority by the legislature: this concept is called the or , meaning that limiting interference with (fundamental) rights is a sphere of action that is reserved to statute. The principle of legal security, which includes a principle of legal certainty and the principle of non-retroactivity. The principle of proportionality, which means that an act of an authority has to be suitable, necessary and appropriate.Oberrath, Öffentliches Wirtschaftsrecht pp. 12–14
The vast majority of public administration in Germany is performed by its component federal entities (), which are responsible for the execution both of federal laws and their own laws (execution of the laws directly by authorities of the Federal Republic being the exceptional case, as established by artt. 83 et seqq. of the Constitution).
Scope of administrative law German legal scholarship does not have an agreed-upon definition for public administration.
In one sense, administration – more precisely, everything that is subject to administrative law – is conceptualized as being all state activity of a certain type (material definition of public administration). This approach leads to disputes about whether to treat acts of public authority as acts of administration (and therefore executive) even when they are performed by component parts of the state (that is to say, the government) that the law formally classifies as a legislative or a judicial body: For instance, the parliament may impose a fine on one of its members for misbehavior, or a presiding judge may direct a disruptive member of the public to be removed from the viewing gallery.
The opposite approach – the formalist definition of public administration – begins its examination by considering all those public authorities intended (judging by their lawful charter, organizational context, internal structure, and performed tasks) to do the work of public administration, and equates their functioning with public administration. There is some danger of circular reasoning, since the formal categorization of the organizational unit may, in turn, derive from some material conception of its function. Some functions that might, in the material view, be seen as not of the executive type, and thus not as belonging to the field of administration (such as the creation of rules with the force of law, which are usually thought of as legislative), would then be held to the standards of administrative law, and not another field of law.