Strategic Delegation, Discretion, and Deference: Explaining the Comparative Law of Administrative Review
American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 62, No. 1, 2014
Penn State Law Research Paper No. 6-2014
Illinois Program in Law, Behavior and Social Science Paper No. LBSS14-26
35 Pages Posted: 8 Feb 2014 Last revised: 11 Mar 2014
Date Written: February 4, 2014
Abstract
This paper offers a theory to explain cross-national variation in administrative law doctrines and practices. Administrative law regimes vary along three primary dimensions: the scope of delegation to agencies, agencies’ exercise of discretion, and judicial practices of deference to agencies. Working with a principal-agent framework, we show how cross-national differences in institutions’ capacities and the environments they face encourage the adoption of divergent strategies that lead to a variety of distinct, stable, equilibrium outcomes. We apply our model to explain patterns of administrative law in the United States, Germany, France, and Commonwealth jurisdictions.
Keywords: administrative law, principal-agent framework, U.S., Germany, France
JEL Classification: D73, D78, K23
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation