Administrative law

Administrative law is the legal framework within which public administration takes place. It derives from the need to create and develop a system of public administration under the strict order of law, a concept that can be compared to the much older notion of justice under law. Since administration involves the exercise of power by the executive branch of government, administrative law is of constitutional and political as well as legal importance.

Related topics

Right of petition, public international law, labor law, objective law, private law, roman law, subjective law

What is administrative law?

It is the branch of law that has as function to regulate the public administration, it is the legal order of the organization, the services and the relations between these and the citizens that conform a State.

About administrative law

Administrative law consists of an entity in charge of the organization, powers, duties and functions of public authorities of all kinds devoted to administration; of their relations among themselves and with citizens and non-governmental organizations; and of the implementation of different legal methods to control public administration; and the rights and responsibilities of civil servants.

It is complemented by constitutional law, and the line between them is difficult to differentiate. The organization of a national legislature, the structure of the courts, the characteristics of a cabinet and the role of the head of state are generally considered constitutional law issues.

Characteristics

The main characteristics of administrative law are as follows:

• Administrative law is common because it is applicable to all municipal, tax, etc. activities.
• It has autonomy because it enjoys its own general principles.
• It is local because it is closely linked to the political organization of a region.
• It is considered exorbitant since it exceeds the scope of private law and does not consider a level of equality between the parties, this because the State is a body that has more power than civil society.
• It possesses certain sources which can be of very diverse typology, thus having written or unwritten sources, primary or secondary and even direct or indirect.
• It can be applied to all bodies and institutions through which the public administration acts.

Principles

Administrative law has different principles that are:

• Principle of legality: one must act with respect for the Constitution, the law and the right.
• Principle of due process: those being administered enjoy all the rights and guarantees of due process, which gives them the right to present their arguments, to offer and produce evidence and to obtain a reasoned decision based on law.
• Principle of ex officio promotion: the authorities must direct and promote the appropriate acts for the clarification and resolution of situations.
• Principle of reasonableness: the decisions of the administrative authority must be adapted to the limits and maintain proportion between the means to be used and the public purposes to be protected.
• Principle of impartiality: there can be no discrimination among the administered, the procedure must be equal according to the legal system and the general
• Principle of presumption of veracity: documents and statements are presumed to correspond to the truth of the facts they claim.
• Principle of procedural conduct: all participants in the procedure carry out their procedural acts guided by mutual respect, cooperation and good faith.

Elements

The elements of administrative law are those that are in charge of the organization, powers and duties that have the administrative authorities, for this reason have been established as elements the competence or legality of action, the cause or origin of the conflict, the will where ideas are contributed, the motivation that produces that the administrative act is executed, the object or result that is wanted to reach, the procedures, the form and the purpose.

Sources

The sources of administrative law are those that are in charge of the application of laws or norms and at the same time give implementation to the law. There are three main types of sources:

• Formal sources include the Constitution, legislation, jurisprudence and regulations; they establish the principles of creation, edition or subtraction of all legal norms.
• Substantial that imply customs, doctrines and social facts. They are related to society and politics and give context to legal regulations.
• Materials: facts of history that give rise to a new norm.

Purpose of administrative law

The main object of administrative law is all those political, ideological, moral, social and economic situations that establish the actions and practices of the State, the way in which they are organized and the objectives that are predicted.

Background

Its main antecedents were the monarchy, the French Revolution, which was political, social and economic and where it was possible to build a rule of law; the evolution of administrative law as part of law; the progressive guidelines of the current reality of law.

History

The origins of administrative law date back to the 18th century, with the arrival of the liberal revolutions that eliminated the Ancient Regime. The new political systems that emerged ensured the existence of abstract, general and permanent legal rules with the aim of regulating relations between the State and citizens. On the other hand, the new order meant the development of institutions that could control the State, which was no longer in the hands of an absolutist monarch.

Importance of administrative law

The importance of administrative law is based on the set of rules and principles that regulate and govern the exercise of the administrative function. It is for this reason that administrative law is the legal regime of the administrative function and supervises the way in which the administrative part acts.

Examples

Some examples of administrative law are as follows:

• The regulation and facilitation of interactions with public organizations.
• The creation of a legal framework that increases the efficiency of administrative processes within public institutions.
• It maximizes social welfare, focusing on providing services to as many users as possible.