droit administratif

Droit administratif is the body of rules governing the organisation and powers of the French administration and its relations with citizens. Disputes involving the administration go to administrative courts headed by the Conseil d'État, not to the ordinary courts, and a Tribunal des Conflits decides which system has jurisdiction.

A.V. Dicey argued that droit administratif was opposed to the rule of law, as it gave officials special protection outside the ordinary courts. Later writers showed that the Conseil d'État in fact controlled the administration closely, and Dicey himself softened his view. India has no separate administrative court system, though tribunals under Articles 323A and 323B perform some of that function.

Example

Dicey contrasted the rule of law with droit administratif, but the Conseil d'État has proved a strong check on French officials.

In Indian law

• Articles 323A and 323B, Constitution of India: administrative and other tribunals

See also

détournement de pouvoir · equality before law

Read more in the study notes

• Rule of law and droit administratif (Administrative Law)
• France: Parliament, the judiciary and droit administratif, and the multi-party system (Political Science - Major World Governments)
• Administrative law: meaning, nature, scope, growth and sources (Administrative Law)
• The sociological school: Montesquieu, Ihering, Ehrlich and Duguit (Legal Theory)
• The constitution and the British constitution: sources, features, conventions and the Rule of Law (Political Science - Major World Governments)