 Welcome to the subunit on administrative law. First, let's define what administrative law is. Very simply, administrative law is the body of law relating to administrative agencies. So you might ask yourself, what law impacts administrative agencies? You might think of things like statutes. Administrative agencies are established by statutes that give authority to the administrative agencies. Another form of law related to administrative agencies would be things like rules, regulations, orders, decisions. A third type of law that would be related to administrative agencies would be court decisions, judicial orders. All of these have an impact on administrative law. So let's take a brief look at the history of development of administrative law in the United States. In essence, administrative law goes back to the founding of the United States. Early government agencies were established by Congress. Congress establishes the agencies. And they were given some authority by Congress to carry out certain acts. These early agencies developed policies and procedures. Customs that guided them in the day-to-day operations and execution of their larger duties. Well, at the end of the Civil War, industrialization began to spread in a big way in the United States. And industrialization had a big impact on the development of administrative law. So laws regulating various economic and other activities began to expand. By the early 20th century, administrative law really began to take off. The range of new agencies being created to regulate things like the purity of food or to ensure fair trade, or also to regulate things like banking. So there was a real movement to expand administrative law as the complexity of the economy grew. Congress continued to expand the role of the federal government in many economic matters. And this culminated in 1946 in the adoption of the Administrative Procedures Act. So the Administrative Procedures Act, adopted in 1946, set up a very formal system for the execution of administrative law by administrative agencies within the federal government. Also on the state level, the roles of states expanded in economic regulation. So let's take a look at the relationship of administrative law to the three main functions of government. Legislative, executive, and judicial. The foundations of administrative law are really found in the legislative branch. Now, we already mentioned that early on, Congress in the United States gave some authority over to administrative agencies. Why do you think it is that the legislature, which holds the power to make laws, would give any of that authority over to an administrative agency? Well, part of the reason is that it really is impossible for agencies, I'm sorry, for the legislature to develop statutes that address every area. They really kind of are forced to delegate some of that authority. And this is known as the delegation doctrine. They delegate a limited amount of lawmaking authority of the legislature to administrative agencies. Administrative agencies have expertise. So the legislature, who doesn't necessarily have the expertise in the area, can feel comfortable that experts are handling the areas that it considers to be very important through legislation. Legislature spells out and limits the authority. So they delegate limited authority, not all inclusive authority, but limited authority to the administrative agencies. So that they can accomplish the broader goals of the legislature. The details are then left to the administrative agency. Because again, if the legislature were to address each and every one of these details, each piece of legislation would be thousands of pages long. They already are in some instances. So the administrative agencies fill in the details. But again, the authority is limited. It's a limited authority. Let's take a look now at the interaction with the executive branch. The executive branch of government in the United States, headed by the president, is responsible for administering and enforcing laws passed by Congress. So you have to ask yourself, what does the executive branch do? What are its functions? Most administrative agencies exist within the executive branch. They are within the executive branch. So keep in mind while they're created by the legislature, they are contained within the executive branch of government. Heads of administrative agencies are generally appointed by the executive. And administrative agencies, like executive branch in general, are given powers to enforce laws and to administer laws, to put them into effect. Just like the executive branch in general. So administrative agencies will do things like conduct examinations of regulated entities. They have the power to investigate. The important power, the power to investigate and issue subpoenas. So you can see a strong overlap with the executive branch. Now let's take a look at the judicial branch and see what the parallels are there. And ask yourself, how are administrative agencies like courts? We usually don't think of them that way. But if you think a little further, you probably will see that administrative agencies often are like courts. Well, in our system in the United States, courts have the authority to review, known as judicial review. And they can review statutes, rules, decisions related to administrative agencies. Administrative agencies usually have something that is known as quasi-judicial authority. Quasi-judicial, meaning almost, meaning almost judicial. They conduct hearings under the authority of administrative law judges or hearing officers. And they adopt rules or regulations. They can award money or other benefits. And they can punish individuals. So this is part of the quasi-judicial power of administrative agencies. Now administrative agencies obviously are not unrestrained. The authority that's given to them is constrained by the statute. But also there are constitutional restraints, constitutional restraints. The most important being the restraint of due process. So the procedures for issuing decisions, policies, orders, rules, regulations, they have to meet the due process requirements of the United States Constitution. Rules have to be reasonable, not arbitrary and capricious. Can't just be at somebody's whim. Where there are matters involving rights to life, liberty, and particularly in administrative law, property, right to property, there must be an adequate opportunity to be heard. There has to be an opportunity to be heard. So if someone is going to have their property taken away, they have to have a chance to explain why it should not be. Okay, lastly let's just take a look at some of the federal agencies that have an impact on the operation of business in the United States. One of the leading ones is the Federal Trade Commission. The Federal Trade Commission. And you may know them as the agency that oversees consumer protection. So the Federal Trade Commission oversees consumer protection, investigates and enforces against anti-competitive activities. You also may be familiar with our agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Consumer Product Safety Commission. This is a commission that you'll often hear about around Christmas as they investigate the safety of toys. But they generally regulate the safety of consumer products, as the name implies. The vast authority to do that as well as to research the safety of products. Another one that probably comes to mind is the Environmental Protection Agency. The Environmental Protection Agency is a powerful agency within the government. Because it regulates laws passed by Congress to protect the environment. So laws such as the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, which we often hear about and which can be controversial. The Endangered Species Act. And one other agency that I'll touch on here is the Small Business Administration. Some of these other agencies we think of as restraining business in what they do. Small Business Administration is meant to help businesses. And it does that in various forms of support in the form of capital, loans particularly, contracts, and counseling. So as you can see, a business manager really must be aware of the business's interaction with a range of government administrative agencies that regulates various economic activities.