Admin Class Notes

36 Pages • Complete Study Notes • Year: Pre-2021

Class 1.1 What is admin law? Mechanisms? Review of government decision-making - judicial review - merits Protection of information rights - freedom/access to information Other accountability measures - ombudsman Constitutional concepts • Rule of law: Equality, public officers should be personally liable for their wrongful acts (A v Hayden). Legality, government action requires legal authority, the government is the same as any individual in the eyes of the law (Entick v Carrington). Government is presumed not to have immunities in the absence of ambiguous language (R v Coco). • Separation of powers: Legislature, judicial and executive. • Responsible government: Ministers who control executive departments are members of the parliament and has right to function only while they have confidence of the lower house. The government is accountable for their actions. • Constitutionalism: Limited government. Evolution of Admin Law • The admin state has grown exponentially in the course of the last two centuries. • A.V. Dicey 1885: notion that all was subject to the laws of the realm. Discretionary was thought as arbitrary power and a threat to the rule of law. • Growth of the State: Welfare and regulatory states rose, there is a rise of administrative state such as economic, environmental and social need. • Discretion: allows flexibility in decision making. • Growth in practice: limited admin in 1970, growing admin discretion impacted life. Kerr Committee 1968. Class 1.2: Introduction and controlling the executive Accountability • 4 main types of accountability: particularly political accountability • The principles of parliamentary system and responsible government. • Government is constitutionally obliged to act in the public interests.  Public accountability: having entrusted government with public power, the public is entitled to expect: compliance with the law. • Limitations of accountability: reduced ministerial control over departments, increased administrative discretion, secretive admin, party discipline, control limited, serving elected govt vs serving public, more about major policy decisions than justice of day to day decision making. • What do we do about the growth of administration? No single measure will secure effective accountability (redundancy model).

This document is 25 Exchange Credits