The Problem Of The Independent Regulatory Commissions By R E Cushman

Alfred C. Aman here examines how the U.S. public law system has adapted to change and how the regulatory structures and discourses of the past are being transformed by the global realities of the present. Tracing the evolution of administrative law during the regulatory eras of the New Deal and the environmental period of the 1960s and 70s as well as the current global deregulatory era beginning with the Reagan presidency, he illuminates key trends in the interpretation of constitutional and administrative law. In the course of examining important shifts in administrative law, Aman provides insights into the process of legal change and the discourses that shape our legal order. He also considers why such issues as the constitutionality of administrative agencies once again are serious legal concerns, and he assesses the trend toward increasing executive power over federal administrative agencies. This timely book will be welcomed by legal scholars, political scientists, American historians, policymakers, and other readers interested in the history and future of administrative law and international and domestic environmental regulation.

Among the many constitutional developments of the past century or so, one of the most significant has been the creation and proliferation of institutions that perform functions similar to those performed by courts but which are considered to be, and in some ways are, different and distinct from courts as traditionally conceived. In much of the common law world, such institutions are called 'administrative tribunals'. Their main function is to adjudicate disputes between citizens and the state by reviewing decisions of government agencies - a function also performed by courts in 'judicial review' proceedings and appeals. Although tribunals in aggregate adjudicate many more such disputes than courts, tribunals and their role as dispensers of 'administrative justice' receive relatively little scholarly attention. This wide-ranging book-length treatment of the subject compares tribunals in three major jurisdictions: Australia the UK and the US. It analyses and offers an account of the concept of 'administrative adjudication', and traces its historical development from the earliest periods of the common law to the twenty-first century. There are chapters dealing with the design of tribunals and tribunal systems and with what tribunals do, what they are for and how they interact with their users. The book ends with a discussion of the place of tribunals in the 'administrative justice system' and speculation about possible future developments. Administrative Tribunals and Adjudication fills a significant gap in the literature and will be of great value to public lawyers and others interested in government accountability.