Introducing the Precautionary Principle into Administrative Law -- Facing Challenges to the Rule of Law

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Zining
2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joakim Zander

Professor Lofstedt presents a convincing illustration of the inconsistencies inherent in a European system of regulation where Member States choose whether to regulate based on assessments of risks or hazards depending on the product concerned. Particularly striking is the candid comment of a Swedish official who seems to marvel at the conflicting positions of his own government. The quote reminds this author of an official in the Swedish Ministry of Environment who in an interview stated that the application of regulation would be widely different if the precautionary principle as included in the Swedish Environmental Code or the precautionary principle as included in the Swedish Planning Code were to be employed.1 For a lawyer – or anyone else with an interest in the rule of law – such inconsistencies pose serious problems with regard to legal certainty. Unfortunately, those who could reasonably be expected to be most concerned with issues relating to the rule of law – national and European courts – have thus far proven reluctant to second-guess, or even criticise, decisions in the area of risk regulation.


Author(s):  
Henk Addink

The pivotal aim of this book is to explain the creation, development, and impact of good governance from a conceptual, principal perspective and in the context of national administrative law. Three lines of reasoning have been worked out: developing the concept of good governance; specification of this concept by developing principles of good governance; and implementation of these principles of good governance on the national level. In this phase of further development of good governance, it is important to have a clear concept of good governance, presented in this book as the third cornerstone of a modern state, alongside the concepts of the rule of law and democracy. That is a rather new national administrative law perspective which is influenced by regional and international legal developments; thus, we can speak about good governance as a multilevel concept. But the question is: how is this concept of good governance further developed? Six principles of good governance (which in a narrower sense also qualify as principles of good administration) have been further specified in a systematic way, from a legal perspective. These are the principles of properness, transparency, participation, effectiveness, accountability, and human rights. Furthermore, the link has been made with integrity standards. The important developments of each of these principles are described on the national level in Europe, but also in countries outside Europe (such as Australia, Canada, and South Africa). This book gives a systematic comparison of the implementation of the principles of good governance between countries.


Author(s):  
JESÚS LEGUINA VILLA

El Derecho Administrativo es un producto propio y específico del constitucionalismo nacido tras la ruptura revolucionaria con el Antiguo Régimen, que resultará profundamente condicionado por las circunstancias sociopolíticas del país, Francia, donde nació. El Régimen Administrativo del Estado de Derecho se conforma a partir del principio de legalidad, de la potestad reglamentaria, de las libertades públicas y los derechos públicos subjetivos, de la responsabilidad de la Administración y del control a través de la jurisdicción contencioso-administrativa. Administrazio Zuzenbidea konstituzionalismoaren berezko produktua espezifikoa da, Frantziako Iraultzak Erregimen Zaharrarekin apurtu ostean sortua eta herrialde horren egoera soziopolitikoak sakon baldintzatua. Zuzenbide Estatuaren Administrazio Araubideak osatzeko hauek guztiak hartzen dira abiapuntu: legezkotasun-printzipioa, arauzko ahala, askatasun publikoak eta eskubide publiko subjektiboak, Administrazioaren erantzukizuna eta administrazio-auziarekiko jurisdikzioaren bidez egiten den kontrola. Administrative Law is a product typical and specific of the constitutionalism born after the revolutionary break-off with the Ancien Regime, which was deeply conditioned by the sociopolitical circumstances of the State, France, where it was born. The Administrative Regime of the Rule of Law was made up from the point of view of the principle of legality, the statutory power, public freedoms and subjective public rights, the liability by the Administration and the review by means of the contentious administrative courts.


Author(s):  
Jeffrey Jowell

This chapter examines the stages of development of administrative law in Great Britain during the twentieth century, describing the different attitudes towards the exercise of state power and its legal control over the century. It explains that the century began with a concern for procedural justice and a particular concept of the rule of law, and ended with judicial constraints upon both the procedures and the substance of official decisions, justified by constitutional rights.


Author(s):  
Paul Craig

Many of the principles of administrative law discussed previously will be familiar to scholars from their domestic jurisprudence. The precautionary principle differs in this respect. While it is found in some legal systems, such as Germany, it is nonetheless relatively novel as a precept of administrative law. It has, however, become of increased importance in EU law.


2019 ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
Henk Addink

Good governance is needed because of legislative gaps, prevention of corruption, maladministration, and mismanagement, and fragmentation of administrative law norms. The concept of good governance has been developed in addition to aspects which can already be found in the rule of law and democracy concepts but are also related to the institutional framework of the government. The term ‘government’ is used for all the powers in the state; the administration is only one of these powers. These powers must fulfil certain norms, principles which sometimes are unwritten and developed by the judiciary or the ombudsman but more and more codified in the frame of the general (administrative) legislation. All the institutions of the government are involved in the development of these principles of good governance. There is not only a separation between the powers of the state, but more and more there are interactions between these powers in the development of principles of good governance and, hence, there is a balance between these principles. Therefore, there are different producers and sources of good governance.


Legal Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Dean R Knight

AbstractContextual review is a judicial method that rejects doctrinal or categorical methods to guide judicial supervision of administrative action. Judges are invited to assess the circumstances of a claim in the round without any doctrinal scaffolding to control the depth of scrutiny; in other words, intervention turns on an instinctive judicial impulse or overall evaluative judgement. This paper identifies and explains the various instances where this method is deployed in judicial review in Anglo-Commonwealth administrative law. The efficacy of this style of review is also evaluated, using rule of law standards to frame the analysis. Its increasing popularity is a worrying turn, in part because its reliance on unstructured normativism undermines the rule of law.


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