Public Administration and Administrative Law
Public Administration and Administrative Law examines how public organizations are structured and how law constrains administrative action. Expect questions on organizational principles, delegated legislation, natural justice, judicial review, and accountability institutions.
Core rules
- Administrative action must stay within statutory authority; ultra vires acts are void.
- Delegated legislation must be authorized, published, and consistent with the parent Act.
- Natural justice requires a fair hearing (audi alteram partem) and an unbiased decision-maker (nemo judex in causa sua).
- Judicial review examines legality, procedural propriety, rationality, and sometimes proportionality; it is not a merits appeal.
Worked example
A licensing board revokes a shop licence after receiving an anonymous complaint, without notice or hearing. The shop can seek judicial review. The likely ground is procedural impropriety because no opportunity to respond was given. Certiorari may quash the decision; the court may remit it for a fair hearing. If the statute validly excludes a hearing in urgent cases, the court still checks whether the exclusion was interpreted narrowly and whether bias existed.
Traps
Do not treat every poor decision as illegal; maladministration is not automatically judicial-reviewable. Do not assume natural justice always means an oral hearing-written representations may suffice. Do not confuse delegated legislation with administrative discretion. Do not ignore statutory ouster clauses, though courts often construe them narrowly.