Administrative Law: Home

Administrative law governs the exercise of authority by officials and agencies granted permission to legislate, execute, and review law by an appropriate legislative body.  Administrative law is made by the Executive branch: the President, the executive level agencies (Department of Defense, Health & Human Services, Interior, State Department, etc.),  and by independent regulatory agencies (EPA, FTC, NASA, etc.) . It includes executive orders and proclamations, agency rules and regulations, and administrative decisions. This means that administrative law covers legislative, executive, and adjudicative actions.

An administrative agency's authority comes from a delegation of power by the legislative branch of government. Once the power to regulate has been delegated, the agency is responsible for creating rules and regulations consistent with the delegating statute. More simply, Congress (or a state legislature) makes a broad law and then appoints an agency to oversee the implementation of that law in keeping with the spirit of the original law.

The terms regulations and rules are used interchangeably in Administrative Law.