INTRODUCTION
Administrative law is that branch of the law that developed in response to the socio-economic functions of the State and the increased powers of the government. As the State developed, the relationship between inter-governmental agencies became complex; there was therefore the need to regulate the relationship as their complexity increased – a law that would regulate the relationship of the different agencies as well as well as act as checks on the exercise of powers of these governmental agencies; and also to defend the rights of citizens from governmental. Furthermore Administrative law is a branch of public law. Public law is the branch of law regulating the relationship between the citizen and the State. Administrative law is a public law category in the sense that it deals with the intercourse between governmental institutions on the one hand and private individuals or corporations on the other. Because of the involvement of the modern State in activities hitherto the exclusive domain of non-governmental actors, there has been the need for governments to establish many agencies that is, ministries, parastatals, bureaus, departments, etc. for the actualization and implementation of governmental projects and programmes. It is also a study of governance; congress or parliament creates authority, the President enforces that authority and the courts confine or discipline the exercise of that authority. Thus, the starting point for many administrative law cases is an act of parliament that allows the agency to function.
Overview of Administrative Law
In the broadest sense, administrative law involves the study of how those parts of our system of government that are neither legislatures nor courts make decisions. These entities, referred to as administrative agencies, are normally located in the executive branch of government and are usually charged with the day–to–day details of governing. Agencies are created and assigned specific tasks by the legislature. The agencies carry out these tasks by making decisions of various sorts and supervising the procedures by which the decisions are carried out.
Definition and Nature of Administrative Law
It is indeed difficult to evolve a scientific, precise and satisfactory definition of administrative law. Many jurists have made attempts to define it, but none of the definitions has completely demarcated the nature, scope and content of the subject. Either the definitions are too broad, and include much more than necessary or they are too narrow and do not include all the essential ingredients. Like many legal terms, ‗administrative law‘ does not possess a universally acceptable definition. Therefore,
each definition reflects the orientation of the definer. Nonetheless, several attempts have been made to define or, at least, describe the term. It is our intention to consider the various definitions that have been offered by scholars with a view to our abstracting the features common to them. Ivor Jennings defines administrative law as: Administrative law is the law relating to the administration. It determines the organization, powers and duties of administrative authorities. According to Osborn‘s law Dictionary (quoting Dicey) ―administrative law is the law relating to the organisation, powers and duties of administrative authorities.‖ H. W. R. Wade in his book ―Administrative Law,‖ eighth edition, argued that administrative law is concerned with the operation and control of the power of administrative authorities with emphasis on functions rather than structure. He went further, stating that: ―Administrative law is the law relating to the control of governmental powers.‖ In the words of Sir Ivor Jennings: ―Administrative law is the law relating to administration. It determines the organisation, powers and duties of administrative authorities on their own side.‖ Administrative law, according to B. O. Iluyomade and B. U. Eka in their book ―Cases and Material on Administrative Law‘‘ is ―that body of rules, which aim at reducing the areas of conflict between the administrative agencies of the State and the individual.‖ To P. A. Oluyede, administrative law means that branch of the law, which vests powers in administrative agencies, imposes certain requirement on the agencies in the exercise of the powers and provides remedies against unlawful administrative acts.‖ According to Peter Leyland and Gordon Anthony: It is regarded as the area of governmental powers, which originate in primary legislation or in the prerogative .It embodies general principles which can be applied to the exercise of the powers and duties of authorities in order to ensure that the myriad of rules and discretionary powers available to the executive conform to basic standards of legality and, fairness. These definitions by different authors confirm the fact that there is no single definition of the subject; all definition depends on the semantic, background and personal idiosyncrasies of the writers. Generally, notwithstanding the problem associated with finding a single definition of the subject, it is a branch of law that aims at keeping the powers of government within the citizen against their abuse, and where abused, to provide remedy to the aggrieved citizen.
Criticisms of the definition
Even though this is perhaps, the most widely accepted definition of administrative law, it is not without its attendant criticism. According to Griffith and Street, there are some difficulties associated with this definition. Firstly, it does not distinguish administrative law from constitutional law; secondly, the definition is seen as too wide. For the law which determines the powers and functions of administrative authorities may also deal with substantive aspect of such powers. For example, legislation relating to public
The primary purpose of administrative law, therefore, is to keep the powers of government within their legal bounds, so as to protect the citizen against their abuse. Professor P.A. Oluyede sees administrative law as that branch of our law which vests powers in administrative agencies, imposes certain requirements on the agencies in the exercise of the powers and provides remedies against unlawful administrative acts. In the view of David Scott and Alexandra Felix, administrative law is broadly defined as the law which regulates the exercise of power conferred under the law upon governmental bodies. In this definition, the grant of power is not expressed but implied. One area that the above definition ignore, like Davis‘ definition is that the remedies invocable by persons who may be adversely affected by administrative acts. Thus, Bernard Schwartz definition of administrative law as that branch of law which controls the administrative operations of government, setting forth the powers which may be exercised by administrative agencies, laying down the principles governing the exercise of those
The Scope of Administrative Law
By the term ―scope of administrative law‖, we mean the coverage of administrative law. What area does it cover? What does it entail etc? Administrative law covers a variety of issues amongst which are:
The Civil Service of the Federal, and Local Government
Here, the hierarchical structures are defined with the head of civil service heading the Federal and State Civil Service. There are permanent secretaries for each ministry with numerous administrative and executive cadres. There are laws binding the implementation and execution of works in various departments. The director of personnel heads each local government administration. The State House of Assembly enacts substantive laws that govern the local government administration. For example, Lagos State Local Government Election Tribunal (Amendment) Law, GSGN No.24, Law No 7 of Lagos State.
Administrative decision and rule making procedures
The administrators make rules and decisions to govern conduct of government. In making rules, they rely on facts and information, whether to give procedural notice to the affected person or not, they bear in mind the nature of the problem at hand, persons that will be affected by the proposed rules and decision, whether the matter to be attended to is an urgent one, the moral stand of the rule, whether the procedure adopted in reaching the decision can stand the test of locus standi when challenged in a court of law, etc. All these are what the administrative decisions and rules deal with.
The control of administrative power
The essence of this is to avoid the arbitrary use of power as a result of powers conferred. The machineries employed for controlling the power are the legislative control, the Executive control and the judicial control.
Delegated legislation and delegation of powers
Under civilian regimes, the laws made by the federal legislature are called acts, (for instance, the Petroleum Act, the Matrimonial Causes Act, and so on) while the ones made by the states are called laws of the State, (for instance, the Wills Law of Lagos State, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency Law, and so on). However, under
Judicial remedies
Where a person is aggrieved by the performance of an administrative function, he is at liberty to apply to the court for redress of the wrongful act. In administrative law, remedies can be grouped into statutory remedy, common law remedy, equitable remedy and prerogative remedy.
Functions of administrative law
a. A major function of administrative law is that it enables the task of government to be performed. This is made possible with the creation of administrative agencies by law, equipped with powers to carry out public policies as approved by parliament. Government makes policies and for these policies to be put into practical effect agencies are therefore created for its full implementation.
b. The second function of administrative law is that it governs the relations between an administrative agency and those individuals or private bodies over whose affairs the agency is entrusted with power. It is a means of control upon administrative power because it grants the individual power to challenge the action of an agency which is contrary to law or beyond the powers of the agency or which has adversely affected the individual.
c. A third function of administrative law is that it governs the relations between various administrative agencies. Finally, administrative law exist to ensure that public authorities take their decision in line or accordance with the law and it equally serve as a means of promoting accountability of public authorities.
The Functions and Powers of Administrative Authorities
The functions and powers vested on administrative authorities and public officers are conferred on them by the constitution and statutes. These functions are many with varying powers depending on the establishment or institution. For instance, Section 2 of the Petroleum Act, Cap. P.10, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 vests power on the minister of petroleum to grant licences known as oil exploration license, oil prospecting license and a lease to be known as oil mining lease. He or she has many functions, which he or she can delegate to his or her subordinates for the proper and effective discharge of his function. One of his key tasks is the implementation of
The Powers of Administrative Authorities
The legislations may confer very wide discretionary power on the authorities for the performance of their duties. In Merchants Bank of Nigeria vs. Federal Ministries of Finance (1961) ANLR 568, the appellant bank held a banking license granted and issued under the granting ordinance. The respondent later revoked through an order, the license and ordering the winding up of the bank‘s business. The bank brought an action in the high court contending that the license issued conferred a right, which could be revoked only by court. The action was dismissed. On appeal to the Supreme Court, it was held that a right or licence to engage in the business of banking under the Banking Ordinance is not a civil right and that such a licence may be determined by ministerial order without recourse to the courts or other tribunal, that is, the minister could revoke it in accordance with the provisions of Section 14 of the Banking Ordinance. Thus, the appeal was dismissed.
By and large, the powers of administrative authorities include:
(i) The power to hear and determine disputes, investigate objections and to examine issues on practical, economic and social aspects of life and submit report and probably make recommendation to the government for instance, the power of industrial arbitration panel to investigate and determine industrial disputes and make recommendation to the government.
(ii) The power to grant or refuse the issuance of licence or lease or permission to execute a business or any activity. For instance, the power endowed on the minister of petroleum to grant or refuse permission in relation to petroleum exploration in Nigeria (see Section 2 of Petroleum Act).
(iii) The powers to investigate and make enquiry, gather information and facts from people, organization or society. An example is a committee set up to look into a land
(iv) The administrative authority has the power to direct a body or individual or community to do or refrain from doing an act. A town planning section of the local government can refuse someone from building a house where such will contravene the town planning law. From the above, it is clear that the
Constitutional Supremacy is closely related to the rule of law. The latter is general while the latter is particular. Constitutional supremacy is a concept that rejects the rule of man but prefers the management of the affairs of men and things by institutions established in accordance with law. It seeks to avoid a situation where the whim and caprice of man would determine the nature or character of benefits or burdens available before any person or groups of persons. In the CFRN, the concept is alive and well especially when we look at the detailed provisions of Chapter IV which provides for the fundamental human rights of the citizens. We must recall that these provisions are to be read or understood in the light of judicial interpretation. The concept is particularly significant for Nigeria in so far as it seeks to assure everyone including the minority groups of equal protection as can be deciphered through provisions on human rights and on Federal Character.
REFERENCE
- . Adediran, M. O. (2004). Essay on Tribunals and Inquiries. Ibadan: University Press Plc.
- Akande, J. (2000) Introduction to Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Lagos: MIJ Publishers.
- Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
