Bernardo Sordi: Révolution, Rechtsstaat, and the Rule of
Law: historical reflections on the emergence of
administrative law in Europe.
The history of administrative law in Europe reflects the emergence and evolution of administrative power
within the nation-state over the last two and half centuries.
3 ideal types of State:
RULE OF LAW: the principle
- the Rechtsstaat, whereby all members of a
- Etat de Droit, society are considered
- Rule of Law. equally subject to publicly
disclosed legal codes and
processes.
The concept of 'Administrative' is A RELATIVELY RECENT PHENOMEN reflected in the historical
development of languages, lexicons, and concepts. The development of administrative power or
administrative law has its own history, which does not expressively coincide with the history of forms of
public authority. Rather, the emergence of a specifically administrative power or law is intrinsically a
modern phenomenon, dating back no more than two hundred years or so.
FRANCE GERMANY
In France, for example, the terms Moreover, Verwaltungsrecht in
administration publique and Germany did not appear until well
bureaucratie did not become widely into the nineteenth century.
used before 1750, and droit Administrative law in the English-
administratif did not make its first speaking world arguably did not
appearance until the early years of emerge as a distinct conceptual
the nineteenth century domain until the twentieth.
1. Révolution: the fracture line at the origin of
administrative modernity in Europe
France is the place where, for the first time, we start seeing the evolution of the 'administration'; from the
universal identity in the political system to its unitary nature, articulate by rigidly differentiated disciplines
and distinct institutions: politics, public administration, the police force, etc. The Napoleonic regime
definitively endorses the evolution of the administrative law, so from now justice and administration are
, firmly divided and separated. The 'droit Administrative' had a huge influence in the system of civil law
countries.
Administrative power is deeply imbricated (radicato), in concrete institutions and in their evolution over
time; it does not live solely in a legal, conceptual or constitutional dimension. Precisely for this reason, it
lends itself to substantial diversity and opens itself up to divergent paths of development.
The emergence of administrative power, which was closely followed by that of administrative law, unfolded
over a longer time span, which undoubtedly included the Revolutionary decade and a good portion of the
Napoleonic era.
- Administrative power and law, have an ancient soul, deeply bound up with the capacity of political
absolutism to govern. An ancien régime jurist like Jean Domat classified public powers in a triad of
justice, police, finance, symbolizing first significant exercises of sovereignty over corporatist
society.
France is one of the first important sources for Administrative Law. France is the place where, for the first
time, we start seeing the evolution of the 'administration'.
We can see the first steps of this evolution in the Revolution of 1789, where the concept and role of
administration publique did not really change but it started to evolve rapidly. It reformulated institutional
and conceptual materials that had sedimented at least since of the middle of the seventeenth century.
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic regime definitively endorse the evolution of the
administrative law.
Novelties in social and political organization:
- most importantly the abolition of corporate bodies
- and the creation of a single class of citizens
As Tocqueville put it, ‘equality facilitates the exercise of power’. In the place of the old corporate order, an
enormous empty space emerged between the State and the individual citizen, artificially conceived as
isolated.
- The Assemblée Constituante replaced the old institutional patchwork of overlaps with a
hierarchical pyramid of districts and apparatuses, seemingly geometrical in their dimension,
organization, and function.
- The old Société de sociétés disappeared for good (forever). The State as ‘political island’
conquered the center of power once and for all and became the exclusive artificer of the legal and
institutional order.
Law: historical reflections on the emergence of
administrative law in Europe.
The history of administrative law in Europe reflects the emergence and evolution of administrative power
within the nation-state over the last two and half centuries.
3 ideal types of State:
RULE OF LAW: the principle
- the Rechtsstaat, whereby all members of a
- Etat de Droit, society are considered
- Rule of Law. equally subject to publicly
disclosed legal codes and
processes.
The concept of 'Administrative' is A RELATIVELY RECENT PHENOMEN reflected in the historical
development of languages, lexicons, and concepts. The development of administrative power or
administrative law has its own history, which does not expressively coincide with the history of forms of
public authority. Rather, the emergence of a specifically administrative power or law is intrinsically a
modern phenomenon, dating back no more than two hundred years or so.
FRANCE GERMANY
In France, for example, the terms Moreover, Verwaltungsrecht in
administration publique and Germany did not appear until well
bureaucratie did not become widely into the nineteenth century.
used before 1750, and droit Administrative law in the English-
administratif did not make its first speaking world arguably did not
appearance until the early years of emerge as a distinct conceptual
the nineteenth century domain until the twentieth.
1. Révolution: the fracture line at the origin of
administrative modernity in Europe
France is the place where, for the first time, we start seeing the evolution of the 'administration'; from the
universal identity in the political system to its unitary nature, articulate by rigidly differentiated disciplines
and distinct institutions: politics, public administration, the police force, etc. The Napoleonic regime
definitively endorses the evolution of the administrative law, so from now justice and administration are
, firmly divided and separated. The 'droit Administrative' had a huge influence in the system of civil law
countries.
Administrative power is deeply imbricated (radicato), in concrete institutions and in their evolution over
time; it does not live solely in a legal, conceptual or constitutional dimension. Precisely for this reason, it
lends itself to substantial diversity and opens itself up to divergent paths of development.
The emergence of administrative power, which was closely followed by that of administrative law, unfolded
over a longer time span, which undoubtedly included the Revolutionary decade and a good portion of the
Napoleonic era.
- Administrative power and law, have an ancient soul, deeply bound up with the capacity of political
absolutism to govern. An ancien régime jurist like Jean Domat classified public powers in a triad of
justice, police, finance, symbolizing first significant exercises of sovereignty over corporatist
society.
France is one of the first important sources for Administrative Law. France is the place where, for the first
time, we start seeing the evolution of the 'administration'.
We can see the first steps of this evolution in the Revolution of 1789, where the concept and role of
administration publique did not really change but it started to evolve rapidly. It reformulated institutional
and conceptual materials that had sedimented at least since of the middle of the seventeenth century.
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic regime definitively endorse the evolution of the
administrative law.
Novelties in social and political organization:
- most importantly the abolition of corporate bodies
- and the creation of a single class of citizens
As Tocqueville put it, ‘equality facilitates the exercise of power’. In the place of the old corporate order, an
enormous empty space emerged between the State and the individual citizen, artificially conceived as
isolated.
- The Assemblée Constituante replaced the old institutional patchwork of overlaps with a
hierarchical pyramid of districts and apparatuses, seemingly geometrical in their dimension,
organization, and function.
- The old Société de sociétés disappeared for good (forever). The State as ‘political island’
conquered the center of power once and for all and became the exclusive artificer of the legal and
institutional order.
