Question :-There has been a tendency in the 20th century to narrow the definition of administrative law. Discuss the statement giving reference to the views of Austin and other writers on the subject.

Answer:-Austin in the early 19^th century regarded administrative law as determining “the ends and the modes to  end in which sovereign powers shall be exercised directly by monarch or sovereign member or shall be exercised directly by subordinate political superiors to whom portions of those powers are delegated or committed in trust.”

It is clear that few of the functions of political sovereign were embraced by the term, “administrative law”. But this is wider than the accepted scope of the subject today since it included Parliament and the Courts as well as the Executive. Parliament is, today, the source of bulk of powers of administrative authorities which in fact constitute the scope of administrative law.

Prof. Keeton has described three possible meanings of the term ‘administrative law’. It may mean –

1. The rule of law, promulgated by an executive department, with the consent and by the authority of the Central Legislature.
2. It may also mean that part of public law which describes the nature of the activity of the executive department of the Government in action. In this sense it may also be termed as the law relating to public administration.
3. Lastly, it may denote that portion of a nation’s legal system which determines the legal status and liabilities of all State officials, which defines the rights and liabilities of private individuals in their dealings with public officials and which specifies the procedure by which those rights and liabilities are enforced.

The definition of Prof. Keeton touches some of those topics which are, strictly speaking, beyond the scope of the subject according to modern view, which confines itself to discussion of delegated legislation and adjudication by the administrative bodies.

Holland gave administrative law as one of his six divisions of public law, the first was constitutional law, dealing with the structure, the second administrative law as being concerned with function of administrative authorities. Thus, the definition given by Holland would cover the powers of foreign office or of Minister or Defence in relation to the disposition of armed forces and other sphere of Government.

The tendency in 20^th century has been to narrow the definition. Port, writing in 1929, defined the scope of administrative law as coinciding with administrative powers and duties but his detailed discussion of administrative law of Great Britain was confined to subordinate legislation and adjudication by administrative bodies. The first addition of Prof W.A. Robson’s book “Justice and Administrative Law” published in 1929 gives to the term a meaning which was limited to jurisdiction of judicial nature exercised by administrative bodies, over the rights and property of citizens and corporate body. Keir and Lawson in their case-law book devote a steadily increasing proportion of the introductory text to the judicial control of public authorities and proceedings against the Crown. The concern of the subject, today, is the discussion of the various sorts of powers that the administration exercises, the limits of the powers and the ways in which administration is kept within those limits. Thus, we find that the scope of the subject has considerably been narrowed. Its main concern is now to examine the legislative and adjudicative powers of the administrative bodies and their control mainly through legal means.

---------------

Courtesy:- Dr. Deepak Miglani

For any query:- legalbuddy@gmail.com