The Development of Administrative Law in the United States and England and its Relation to Public Administration

Abstract

The progress of society upward from a primitive condition of rule by brute force has depended greatly upon the development of rules governing the behavior of individuals and the relations between individuals and the controlling institutions of the group. Beginning with simple folk traditions and customs, human societies have evolved complex, formal rules called laws which are enforced by both custom and the power of government. The acceptance of rules of behavior tested by experience, honored by long observance, and written into formal codes indicates an important difference between primitive societies and civilized communities, The idea prevails that it is necessary for men to be controlled by rules which stand above individual desires, and this is of major significance to the study of government. In progressive societies, these rules or codes of law seek not only to maintain a stable social order, but try to combine reasonable certainty about the rules men are expected to follow on one hand, with the flexibility necessary to permit social change on the other hand.