ADMINISTRATIVE LAW PROJECT

Meaning & Evolution of Administrative Law

INTRODUCTION

In the field of law, the most significant and outstanding development of the 20th century is
the rapid growth of administrative law. It does not, however, mean that there was no
administrative law before this century. Since many years it has been very much in existence.
But in this century, the philosophy as to the role and function of the state has undergone a
radial change. There was increase in governmental functions.

It is indeed difficult to evolve a scientific precise and satisfactory definition of administrative

law. Many jurist have attempted to define it. But none of the definitions has completely
demarcated the nature, scope and contents of Administrative Law. Either the definitions are
too broad and include much more than what is necessary or they are too narrow and do not
include all the necessary contents.

Administrative law is the body of law that governs the activities of administrative
agencies of government. Government agency action can include rulemaking, adjudication, or
the enforcement of a specific regulatory agenda. Administrative law is considered a branch
of public law. As a body of law, administrative law deals with the decision-making of
administrative units of government (for example, tribunals, boards or commissions) that are
part of a national regulatory scheme in such areas as police law, international
trade, manufacturing, the environment, taxation, broadcasting, immigration and transport.
Administrative law expanded greatly during the twentieth century, as legislative bodies
worldwide created more government agencies to regulate the increasingly complex social,
economic and political spheres of human interaction.

MEANING OFADMINISTRATIVE LAW

Definition by Ivor Jennings:

Ivor Jennings in his "The law and the constitution, 1959" provided the following definition of
the term "administrative law". According to him, "administrative law is the law relating to the
administrative authorities". This is the most widely accepted definition, but there are two
difficulties in this definition:

(1) It is very wide definition, for the law which determines the power and functions of
administrative authorities may also deal with the substantive aspects of such powers.

For example:- Legislation relating to public health services, houses, town and country
planning etc.. But these are not included within the scope and ambit of administrative law,
and

(2) It does not distinguish administrative law from constitution law.

Definition by K. C. Davis

According to K. C. Davis, "Administrative law as the law concerning the powers and
procedures of administrative agencies, including especially the law governing judicial review
of administrative action".

Definition by Prof. Wade

According to Wade (Administrative Law, 1967) any attempt to define administrative law will
create a number of difficulties. But if the powers and authorities of the state are classified as
legislative, administrative and judicial, then administrative law might be said "the law which
concerns administrative authorities as opposed to the others".

Again, there are some difficulties with this definition also. It falls to distinguish
administrative law from constitutional law Like Jennings definition mentioned above, this is
also very wide definition. It includes the entire legal field except the legislature and the
Judiciary. It also includes the law of local government. It is also said that it is not possible to
divide completely and definitely the functions of legislative, executive and judiciary.

It is very difficult to say precisely where legislation ends and administrative begins. Though
enacting a law is function of the legislature the administrative authorities, legislate under the
powers delegated to them by the legislature and this delegated legislation is certainly a part of
administrative law.

Definition by Jain and Jain

According to Jain and Jain, "Administrative law deals with the structure, powers and function
of the organs of administration, the limits of their powers, the methods and procedures
followed by them in exercising their powers and functions, the method by which their powers
are controlled including the legal remedies available to a person against them when his rights
are infringed by their operation".

Administrative law, according to this definition, deals with four aspects:-

It deals with composition and the powers of administrative authorities.

It fixed the limits of the powers of such authorities.
It prescribes the procedures to be followed by these authorities in exercising such
powers and,
It controls these administrative authorities through judicial and other means.

Definition by Griffith and Street

According to Griffith and Street in Principles of administrative law, 1963 stated that the main
object of Administrative law is the operation and control of administrative authorities, it must
deal with the following three aspects:-

What are the limits of those powers?

What sort of power does the administration exercise?
What are the ways in which the administrative is kept within those limits?

Improvement To Griffith and Street's Definition:

According to the Indian Law Institute, the following two aspects must be added to have a
complete idea of the present - day administrative law:-

What are the procedures followed by the administrative authorities?

What are the remedies available to a person affected by administration?

Definition by Garner

According to Garner, administrative law may be described as "Those rules which are
recognized by the court as law and which relates to and regulate the administration of
government."

EVOLUTION OFADMINISTRATIVE LAW

The term administrative law is not a newly coined term. The traces of administrative law
can be seen in almost every legal system of the world. In India, from Mauryas to Guptas,
Guptas to Mughals, from Mughals to the East India Company: in all the mentioned periods
administrative law was one of the most developing branches of law. Administrative Law can
be said to be the most remarkable development of the 20th Century. The development of
administrative law goes hand-in-hand with the development of the society. Administrative
law can more rightly be said to be the sociology of law and not the philosophy of law. The
two major steps were:

1. Change in the concept of state-from laissez faire to Social Welfare state:

Administrative law is recognised as the most outstanding legal development of the 20th
century. The 19th century was characterised by the welfare state wherein there was minimum
government control, free enterprise, contractual freedom, etc. Individualistic theories
flourished in this period. The state played a negative role. It was primarily a police state
which helped in maintenance of law and order, protecting the nation from external
aggression, dispensing justice to its citizens and collecting taxes for financing such activities.
However, in the 20th century, the evils of this system were realised. Due to contractual
freedom and freedom of enterprise, there was unequal distribution of wealth. This led to
several socialist movements specially ones in which the grievances of labourers was voiced.

Thus, a need was felt that the state shall be more than a police state. It shall help in alleviating
the poor, regulating individual enterprise and most importantly bringing about social justice.
This led to the establishment of the social welfare state. This may be seen even in case of
India. Before independence, India was essentially a police state as the British were more
interested in furthering their own interests rather than working for the welfare of the people.

However, the concept of social welfare was taken up immediately after independence
especially after the adoption of the constitution. The preamble to the constitution states that
India shall be a socialist, secular, democratic, republic and must provide justice, equality,
rights, freedom, etc. to all. Other examples are that given in Part IV wherein it has been
provided that there shall be no concentration of wealth towards the common detriment. There
shall be equitable distribution of wealth. Also, right to free and compulsory education for
children upto 14 years is now a fundamental right. There is also provision of equal pay for
equal work under Part IV. Further various social legislations such as the Factories Act,
Minimum Wages Act, etc. have come into the picture.

2. Increase of functions of modern state:

The growth of administrative law has primarily been due to the growth of administrative
powers and functions which is again the result of increased state functions. This has also been
also attributed to the fact that the international situation in the 20th century was such that at
times quick decisions required to be taken by the executive in times of emergency and thus
administrative powers increased.

The state today has taken up functions which were earlier carried out by the private sector. It
provides for transport, communication, energy, housing, banking, education, trade and
commerce, etc. The functions of the state today may be put into 5 broad categories, namely-
as a protector, provider, entrepreneur, economic controller and arbiter.

A state consists of 3 organs- the legislature, executive and the judiciary. Out of the three, the
executive is the most powerful these days. Not only does the executive have powers of
administration, it also has powers of legislation in the form of delegated legislation. Along
with that it has the power to conduct enquiries and investigations and give binding decisions
as in case of administrative adjudication. Sometimes it may even exercise its discretion.
However, some sort of check must be exercised on such powers and the same is done with
the help of administrative law. Administrative law helps in balancing public power and
personal rights. If exercised properly, vast administrative powers could lead to a well-
functioning welfare state and if not exercised properly it would lead to despotism.
Administrative law provides several limitations on executive power in the form of rule of
law, separation of powers, principles of natural justice, judicial and parliamentary controls,
administrative appeals, ombudsman, etc.

REASONS FOR GROWTH:

1) Rise in complexity warranted handling of variable by the state authorities in order to
provide functioning in that area with necessary certainty and prescriptions.
2) Industrial revolution that resulted in the coming up of cities and new types of economic
transactions necessitated handling of affairs by government in order to facilitate production,
supply and exchange of products and services.
3) Technological inventions and the increasing specialization has called for the increased
need of specialised handling of affairs by government officials.
4) To allow necessary flexibility in the administrative system so that the challenges arising
due to social and economic factors could be addressed more adequately and efficiently.
5) To allow experimentation in order to ensure the application of best fit model in a given
circumstance
6) To allow participation of people in the administrative functioning to provide the necessary
authority to the administrative officials so that they can address the challenges arising due to
extraordinary circumstances or emergency situations.

SCOPE & SIGNIFICANCE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

SCOPE:
Administrative law determines the organization, powers and duties of administrative
authorities. The emphasis of Administrative Law is on procedures for formal adjudication
based on the principles of Natural Justice and for rule making.

The concept of Administrative Law is founded on the following principles:

a) Power is conferred on the administration by law
b) No power is absolute or uncontrolled howsoever broad the nature of the same might be.
c) There should be reasonable restrictions on exercise of such powers depending on the
situation.

Though administrative law is as old as administration itself since they cannot exist separately,
in India the early signs/existence of administrative law could be found in the treatises written
during the reign of the Mauryas, Guptas, Mughals as well as East India Company.

It is based on the concept of rule of law that supports Natural Justice (to adjudicate based on
impartiality, unjustness and the prescribed laws and legal methods instead of arbitrariness and
abuse of official power on the part of govt. while serving the people and deciding cases
brought before its Tribunals, etc. Natural justice is basically applied in cases where there are
no laws prescribed, here the individual has to be given an opportunity to be heard and the
judgement is to be taken into consideration the particular facts and cases of the case and the
judgement should be free from bias). It is to prevent violation of people's rights by officials in
power.

Administrative law specifies the rights and liabilities of private individuals in their dealings
with public officials and also specifies the procedures by which those rights and liabilities can
be enforced by those private individuals. It provides accountability and responsibility in the
administrative functioning. Also there are specified laws and rules and regulations that guide
and direct the internal administration relations like hierarchy, division of labour, etc.

SIGNIFICANCE:
It is very significant because if it did not exist then the very concept of having a democracy
and a government to work for the people would be self-defeating because then there would be
no responsibility or accountability of the public officials to anybody and the administration
would run arbitrarily thus creating a huge monster that would eat up the very system. There
would be an upset in the balance in areas such as police law, international trade,
manufacturing, environmental, taxation, broadcasting, immigration, and transportation, etc.

CONCLUSION

From Laissez faire to a social welfare state the meaning and definition of administrative law
has developed tremendously. After turning into a social-welfare state the function of state
shifted from setting the parameters or for deciding the administrative functions to following
the principles of natural justice and reasonableness. Administrative Law today is an all-
pervading feature existing in almost all parts of the society and its functions.

According to I.P. Massey Administrative Law now includes-

1. The powers and functions of the administrative and quasi-administrative agencies.

2. The procedures these powers to be exercised, prescribed and reviewed.

3. The review by individuals and how the aggrieved persons whose powers have been abused
and can seek a remedy.
In a nutshell, Administrative Law is all about the organization of powers and individual
liberty, the procedures how individuals can exercise their powers and the remedies for the
individuals if there power is abused by administrative authorities.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wikipedia
Class Notes
Kalyan-city.blogspot.in
Scribd.com
Lawnotes.blogspot.in
Publicadministration.blogspot.in
Lawhandbook.org