Define the term Administrative law. The growth and development of Administrative law has no justification whatsoever in the contemporary system of administration. Discuss

Answer 1

In short, administrative law is the law of government agencies. Administrative law deals with the procedures in which government agencies carry out its functions. The key thing to be thinking about when thinking of administrative law is the fundamental principle of separation of powers; administrative agencies are not legislatures or the courts.  

Legislatures create laws, and administrative agencies execute them. A good example is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state equivalents. The EPA, for example, has the responsibility for maintaining and enforcing a variety of environmental laws created by Congress (Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, etc.) through issuing and enforcing rules/regulations, and studying/investigating environmental issues.  

From the1930s until the 1970s, government agencies were viewed more so as neutral bodies that had expertise in a particular area.  In theory, a government agency was supposed to solve problems based on its expertise and through dispassion. However, one might argue that government agencies have become increasingly and primarily more concerned with accomplishing political objectives that favor a particular side of a political issue, which is not what they were intended to do.  

One might further argue, contemporaneously, the government agency is nothing more than a tool of political interest groups to bypass separation of powers and create rules/regulations, without the same stringent checks and balances legislation is subject to. The counter argument is that there are sufficient mechanisms in place, through checks and balances, to ensure that legislatures are not merely delegating lawmaking authority to agencies (i.e. judicial review, legislative controls, notice and comment procedure, etc.).  

A thoughtful and complete answer would address why or why not government agency action, although concerned with achieving political objectives, is a fair and democratic process that still achieves neutrality and objectivity through allowing multiple sides of an issue to participate in the rule-making/regulatory process.