The Promise of Comparative Administrative Law: A Constitutional Perspective on Independent Agencies

Abstract:     
The comparative study of administrative law is en vogue. A dominant strand of this emerging discipline examines administrative practice across various jurisdictions in search of commonalities and often with a view to improving the administrative process wherever it may be employed. This chapter suggests a different perspective: understanding the turn to administrative agencies as a specific reaction to the perceived pathologies of the generally constituted branches of government. Viewed thus, the most promising aspect of comparative administrative law may be to provide valuable insight into the rather different constitutional hopes and fears that prevail in different legal systems. Once we bring these into focus, we find rather striking - and neglected - discontinuities in the constitutional significance of administrative agencies in such systems as the United States, Germany, and France.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 41

Keywords: Germany, France, administrative law, comparative administrative law, comparative constitutional law, comparative law

JEL Classification: K23

Accepted Paper Series