General Administrative Law

Introduction

Administrative law deals with the legal basis and legal frameworks for the exercise of executive power in state and municipal administration. Such power can take the form of making decisions in individual cases, drafting regulations, conducting information work, and entering into agreements with other societal actors. The administration has a very wide range of tasks, such as granting dispensations from prohibitions against business activities, allocating financial benefits and support, conducting oversight, imposing sanctions, and providing professional advice and guidance. There is significant variation in the regulations depending on which sector we are dealing with and what tasks the administration performs.

General administrative law addresses the important common and fundamental features of administration. For each sector or area of society where specific legal issues arise, general administrative law also applies. These legal principles are prerequisites for understanding sector-specific and task-specific issues that the administration and those affected by it may face.

The course has connections to the courses in Constitutional Law and Human Rights, EU/EEA Law, and Sustainability Regulation.

Course content

• Structure of the administration and various tasks.
• The requirement of material competence (the home rule requirement).
• Procedural rules for the decisions made by the administration as part of the exercise of public authority, including individual decisions and regulations.
• The requirements placed on the administration's other activities, such as guidance and the exercise of private law competence.
• The doctrine of invalidity and the legal consequences of invalidity.
• Legal procedures for addressing errors in administrative law, including through administrative means such as complaints and reversal, ombudsman and supervisory activities, and lawsuits in court.