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Cambridge University Press, British Institute of International and Comparative Law Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law
Cambridge University Press, British Institute of International and Comparative Law Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN ADMINIS-
TRATIVE LAW.
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36 THE DEVELOPMENT OF
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AMERICAN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW. 37
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38 THE DEVELOPMENT OF
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AMERICAN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW. 39
of technical administrative cases from the district courts and vests
them in the courts of the District of Columbia, we shall have the sub-
stance if not the formal recognition of a hierarchical administrative
court system. Considerations of special competence, increased
remedies, the lessened expense and the greater speed and informality,
which are usually associated with administrative courts, should
impel Congress to take such action. The possibility of there being
established a parallel administrative court system, arising out of the
important legal growth and the powerful new administrative agencies
which have come into being as a result of the economic and social
problems confronting the country, depends in addition upon the
several factors which are motivating the evolution of American
administrative law.
Liberal Construction of the Separation of Powers Doctrine.-The strict
or the liberal interpretation of the separation of powers principle is
one of the main problems of administrative law expansion. Judges
who are zealously alert to check any evidence of the exercise of
power which possesses judicial characteristics can usually kill
effectively any desire of the legislature to entrust to the administra-
tion the right to determine the substantive rights and duties of the
individual, which in this complex age is recognized as a necessary
element of sound administrative practice. This is particularly im-
portant in the United States, where the courts have the power to
review legislative acts. It stands to reason that before a develop-
ment like the one described above could occur, where commissions
perform important judicial functions, a rationalizing of the strict
separation of powers theory must have taken place.
That such a rationalizing process has occurred in recent years
may be seen at once by analysis of such important cases as McGrain
v. Daugherty," Field v. Clark,2 and United States v. Louisville and
Nashville R.R. Co.3 It should be noted as a matter of practical
importance, however, that in all of these cases Congress had passed
laws making it clear that a liberal construction of powers was
necessitated in order to bring about greater efficiency. The latter
cases are particularly interesting because they deal with the
authority of the most powerful administrative tribunal in the
country, the Interstate Commerce Commission. In earlier cases '
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40 THE DEVELOPMENT OF
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AMERICAN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW. 41
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42 THE DEVELOPMENT OF
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AMERICAN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW. 43
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44 THE DEVELOPMENT OF
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AMERICAN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW. 45
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46 AMERICAN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW.
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