Sup port de Cours – Droit Administratif

Administrative Law Course Support

This document serves as course material for an Administrative Law course at Université Paris 13. It covers key concepts, means of administrative action, unilateral acts, contracts, public services, and police powers. Understanding these topics helps grasp how administrative law functions and its impact on citizens. Aim to understand these concepts without getting bogged down in legal jargon! Here's what you'll gain by diving in:

• Understand the French administrative system.
• Grasp legal concepts without needing to read tons of pages.
• Be able to discuss administrative law confidently.

Core Content:

1. Regulatory Power Bodies: Identify who holds regulatory authority at both national (President, Prime Minister, Ministers, IDAs) and local levels.

• The ability of the administration to take binding action is one of its important privileges. This allows the government to impose a behavior without having to obtain the acceptance of the addressees.
• Unilateral administrative acts can be either regulatory or individual. A regulatory act applies generally. A regulatory act does not concern a specific person, but a category of persons defined abstractly. On the contrary, an individual act has a specific addressee.
• Often, in practice, we distinguish regulatory acts from the body that takes them. This means that we can refer to regulatory decrees taken by the two organs of the executive branch, the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, legislative orders, and decisions issued by ministers, mayors, or prefects.
• France’s Constitution determines the scope and implementers of regulatory power.

2. Differentiating Unilateral Administrative Acts: Classify key parameters of each administrative act; unilateral acts, enforceable decisions, and internal measures

-A unilateral administrative act, which comes only from the administration, is not the product of two parties (e.g., an administrative contract) but the product of the administration's will, which is done according to a certain procedure and creates a new rule of law.

-For a decision to be categorized as an administrative one, it has to fit into the administrative process, and not depend on another process.

-The expression enforceable decision was first used by M. Hauriou. The term "enforceable decision" remains. In general, the term "enforceable decision" remains particularly vague. However, the enforceable decision refers to a compulsory character. In other words, it is compulsory for those who are bound by the specific act, and often leads to a change in the legal situation.

3. Internal Measures: Understand measures of internal nature which cannot be legally challenged

-Internal measures are unilateral administrative acts that cannot be legally challenged. Internal measures concern the internal functioning of the administration and do not affect the persons subject to it.

-Cyclicals are a measure used by the central administration to interpret statutes that administrative agencies are called to enforce. It facilitates their application.

-A directive is an act by which the administrative authority, which has a discretionary power, establishes a rule of conduct that must be observed in cases that have the same characteristics. Specifically, directives need to respect certain principles

4. Regulatory vs. Non-Regulatory Decisions: Knowing the difference helps to create a defined sense of expectations

For many reasons, the distinction between regulatory and non -regulatory decisions is important and necessary to be made. It is necessary to distinguish between regulatory and non -regulatory decisions for many different reasons. The first principle which is: regulatory decisions do not create vested rights, whereas non -regulatory decisions generally do. This is due to the general nature of regulatory decisions, which is similar to that of laws. Furthermore, there is often no legal recourse against these types of decision on this basis.

5. Conditions for Monolateral Administrative Acts: Distinguish between these to ensure their effectiveness: form of act, content of act

Firstly, it is important that an administrative act is dated, as it is also in the administration's best interests. An act that is not dated will mean that the period during which the person can challenge it before the administrative court cannot begin.

The stamp of the administration should also be included on the administrative instrument as it is a kind of signature of the department and shows the will of the administration. Furthermore, the administrative instrument must include references to the regulations and codes used by the administrative authority when making it. An administrative act protects citizens against the arbitrary exercise of power by the administration which allows for open communication.

Q&A:

Is there hierarchy between the Prime Minister and other members of the government?

While the Constitution does not recognize it between authorities, it states that" Prime Minister directs the action of the government," which gives him a special institutional position .

What is the difference between circulars and instructions?

--The opinion takes two main forms; both take into a account two main forms; both of which are based on decisions made the government --Instructions are separate from other types of communications. As it is not regulatory or produces laws , or other legal documents, it may lead to issues

What do you mean by collective decisions?

In many cases, collective decisions are referred to as collective decisions à. The collective decision differs from the individual in that it involves several people because of the relationship between them to whom the decision is addressed.

What is the point in all the regulatory measures?

Regulatory is there to protect citizen. The different provisions are there make people are protecting by all measures. It promotes general principles