solution which seemed possible for a time in the UK wasdevolution. A
solution attempted underThatcherism, apart from generalprivatization,
was to allocate many functions of government to independent administrative
agencies directly accountable to parliament.
In the USA the problem has to some extent been tackled by deregulation,
which involves strict reviews of government rules and orders, and efforts to
reduce or even remove government intervention and control. Other questions
which arise in relation to administration are whether the administrative corps is
either competent (seemaladministration) or socially representative enough,
and whether the administration can be effectively controlled by the politicians
(seeaccountability).
Administrative Courts
Administrative courts comprise a distinct system of courts which exist to
implement and develop public as opposed to private law, and which handle
disputes in which the state is a party or has an interest. Many English jurists,
such as A. V. Dicey (1835–1922), once considered administrative courts
inimical to traditional ideas of liberty, assuming that they would apply standards
unduly favourable to authority. More recently, however, opinion has tended to
favour the establishment of such courts, partly because of the rapid extension of
governmental activity (in, for example, thewelfare state) and partly because a
need has been felt for distinct principles of law which can be applied to protect
the individual when coming into contact with governmental authority. It is
still largely true that thecommon lawjurisdictions have less clear and less
powerful administrative courts than thecivil lawcountries. Nothing exists in
the USA or the United Kingdom, for example, with the authority and
independence of the French Conseil d’Etat. Indeed, theadministrative
lawjudges in the USA are often seen, just as Dicey feared, to be clearly under
the control of the government departments whose work they are supposed to
regulate. In practice the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court has for a
long time operated as an administrative court in the UK, specializing in such
issues as appeals against the immigration service, and any of the multiplicity of
tribunals. Nevertheless, the UK has no ‘court of first instance’ that operates
purely for administrative law matters, and the legal rules applied in adminis-
trative law cases are developed from common law, rather than being seen as a
distinct branch of law. This position is already changing with the implementa-
tion of theHuman Rights Act(1998) and the impact of European ideas
about public law coming from both the European Court of Human Rights and
theEuropean Court of Justice.
Administrative Courts