Administrative Law

Administrative Law provides a sophisticated but highly accessible account of a complex area of law of great contemporary relevance and increasing importance.
Written in a clear and flowing style, the text has been radically reorganized and extensively rewritten to present administrative law as a framework for public administration. After an exploration of the nature, province, and sources of administrative law as well as the concept of administrative justice, the book briefly discusses the institutional framework of public administration. The second part of the book deals with the normative framework of public administration, starting with a general discussion of administrative tasks and functions and then examining in some detail norms relating to administrative procedure and openness, decision-makers' reasoning processes and the substance of administrative decisions. The next topic is the private law framework provided by the law of tort, contract, and restitution. The third part of the book provides an account of institutions and mechanisms of accountability by which the framework of public administration is policed and enforced: judicial review and appeals by courts and tribunals, bureaucratic and parliamentary oversight, and investigations by ombudsmen. This part ends by considering how these various mechanisms fit into the administrative justice system. The final part of the book explores the functions of administrative law and its impact on administration.

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For 20 years Peter Cane taught law at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Since 1997 he has been a research Professor of Law at the Australian National University in Canberra. He is a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and has written extensively on English and Australian administrative law. Other books include The New Oxford Companion to Law edited with Joanne Conaghan (OUP, 2008). He has taught comparative administrative law at the University of Texas at Austin.