Administrative Law Definition and Scope

Nature and Definition of Administrative Law

• Administrative Law is the branch of law dealing with the actual operation of government.
• It relates to the organization, composition, functions, and procedures of public authorities and special statutory tribunals.
• It also concerns the impact of these authorities on citizens and the legal restraints and liabilities to which they are subject.
• The essence of Administrative Law is to reveal what tangible and enforceable limits can be placed on administrative action.
• It goes beyond controlling governmental power and also involves improving public governance.

Administrative Law vs. Constitutional Law

• Administrative Law is a branch of public law that deals with the detailed rules relating to public matters and governance.
• Constitutional Law deals with the broad parameters of governing (public governance).
• Administrative Law operates at three levels: dealings between public institutions, dealings between public institutions and individuals, and dealings between individuals.

Administrative Agencies

• Administrative agencies are entities that make decisions and supervise procedures in the executive branch of government.
• They are created and assigned specific tasks by the legislature.
• Agencies carry out their tasks by making decisions of various sorts and supervising the procedures by which the decisions are carried out.

The Concept of Statehood

• A state is a well-defined area with an established government or jurisprudence.
• It has the authority to exercise control over its population without internal or external interference.
• A state has five features: population, territory, government, sovereignty, and permanence.
• A state plays five functions: maintaining law and order, promoting and protecting the welfare of its citizens, providing social amenities, protecting its citizens from internal and external aggression, and promoting and protecting the rights of its citizens.

Theories of Administrative Law

• There are three main theories of Administrative Law: Administrative Law as a Practicalisation of a Social Contract, Administrative Law as a Practicalisation of the Integral State, and Administrative Law as a Means of Controlling Monstrous Law and Improving the Unintelligent State.

Breach of Natural Justice

• Breach of the rules of natural justice is a ground for judicial review.
• The rules of natural justice include the audi alteram partem rule and the nemo iudex in causa sua principle.

Error of Law

• Error of law patent on the face of the record is a ground for judicial review.
• The error must be so fundamental and go to the root of the matter so as to render the decision a nullity.

Breach of the Wednesbury Rule of Reasonableness

• Breach of the Wednesbury rule of reasonableness is a ground for judicial review.
• A decision is unreasonable if no reasonable person is expected to come to that conclusion.

Remedies

• Prohibition is a remedy issued to prevent a judicial or quasi-judicial body from acting in a way that is unlawful.
• Mandamus is a remedy issued by the Court to compel a public body or person who has failed to perform a duty to do it.
• Quo Warranto is a remedy issued against a person who acts without authority to show the authority on which he acts.

Grounds for Granting Mandamus

• The body must be a public body.
• There must be a duty to perform.
• The person must have failed to perform that duty.
• There must be a prior demand and a refusal to perform.