Basic Terminology in The Field of Public Administration

Basic Terminology
in the Field
of Public Administration
dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Institute of Administrative Sciences
University of Wrocław
Basic Terminology in the Field of Public Administration
 administrative law
 public interest
 state (~ government)
 decentralisation
 supervision
 forms of decentralisation
 self-government
 territorial self-government
 special self-governments
 organ of public administration
 offices of public administration
 types of organs
 tasks and competences
 categories of tasks
 functions of public administration
 administration of order
 administration of provision
 administration of ownership
 administration of development dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat
Administrative law
 modern state cannot function without public administra-

tion
 public administration cannot function without admini-
strative law
 administrative law is not law of administration

Zofia Duniewska:
Administrative law is a body of public law that deals
with the constitution and functions of public administra-
tion as well as with the rights and duties of persons
getting into a relationship with administration. Its main
purpose is to protect the common good.

Jacek Jagielski: 1/2

Administrative law is one of the most complex areas of
the Polish legal system. Today it is considered a key ele-
ment of the public law category, although it was once as-
sociated with the entire domain of public law. Its regula-
tions concern almost all areas of life as well as the activi-
ties of individuals and certain other subjects functioning
within the framework of the state.
Administrative law provisions are thus some of the most
important components of the entire legal system.

2/2
Administrative law is composed of two kinds of rules:
1. The rules on the organization and functioning of the
administrative apparatus and other bodies designed to
perform public administration duties, as well as on the
conduct of representatives of the administration and
their powers over administered subjects outside the
administrative apparatus.
2. The rules governing the rights of the administered
subjects vis-à-vis the administration and the rights and
duties of natural and legal persons and other subjects
in various areas toward whom the interest and activity
of public administration is directed.

It is widely accepted that administrative law:

• is the most extensive and flexible body of law controlling the legal situa-
tion of both individuals and almost all other subjects operating within the
state
• usually contains imperative norms (absolutely binding norms – ius co-
gens)
• is usually supported by public power
• has a broad scope
• is difficult to codify
• has rules which are inserted in acts of different rank, enacted by various
organs, in different periods of time
• is not politically neutral (in the words of Ronald Dworkin it is a political
enterprise)
• is difficult to interpret
• includes local law binding on the territory of the organ issuing it

Internal division
of administrative law
Administrative law
Substantive a.l. Procedural a.l.

Structural a.l.
(what is the object (how are
(who is acting?)
of the action?) they acting?)

Europeanization of administrative law

vs.
European administrative law
 in the first case European law influences the content of

national administrative law which is the basis of function-
ing of public administration
 in the other case the norms of European law form the

direct legal basis for functioning of public administration

Public interest
The public interest, arising from the needs for common
good*, is, in modern liberal democracy, the only justifica-
tion for any intervention of public administration in the
matters of individuals and non-public organisms set up by
individuals and/or other organisms.
This is due to the fact that the public interest is the only
justification for any intervention of public law, including
administrative law, in matters which are either subject to
the civil (private) law or outside the limits of the law.
* Art. 1 of the Constitution: The Republic of Poland shall be the com-
mon good of all its citizens.

Hubert Izdebski 11
Public interest – England

Before the emergence of what is sometimes called „modern
interventionist administrative state”, the judge-made rule was
that owners were entitled to prefer their own interest to the
common good (freedom of property and freedom of contract
were important issues – JS).
Since the second half of the 19th century there has been a
growth of responsibilities of the state in the social and econo-
mic fields, introduced by means of legislation (on factory pro-
tection, housing, environment protection, education, health
care, etc.), which evoked the „public interest”. Humanitarian
and the resulting social principles have been more and more
prevailing over individualism, which was typical of England of
the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century.
2
Public interest – the European continent
On the European continent, though the point of departure for
the evolution had been quite different (ius politiae enjoyed by
the absolute monarchs, and, therefore, a recognized predo-
mination of the public interest), the liberal, individual thinking
triumphed in the 19th century, with the same convictions con-
cerning the role of the freedom of property and the freedom of
contract.
Since that time, however, „modern interventionist administra-
tive state” has been being built. This meant more and more ex-
ceptions from rules of the private law, justified by „the common
good” and/or „the public interest”. Moreover, communist and
fascist regimes succeeded, though temporarily, in restoring,
and even monopoly, of public interest.

Child labour
Child labour
Development of „modern interventionist

administrative state”
 freedom of property  freedom of want

vs.
 freedom of contract  freedom of disease
3
Ideas of „less state” and of New Public Manage-
ment, typical of the 1980s, served as a break put on an
unlimited development of „modern interventionist admini-
strative state”.
Their practical role, however, was to
• rediscover the place of civil-law rules in society and in
the government
• focus on the necessity of searching for the existence of
the public interest while thinking about the state’s inter-
vention
rather than to stimulate abandoning the idea of such
state.

State (~ government)
 state in a broader sense = the whole public power on
a given territory
 state in a strict sense = only a centralised public pow-
er system
Art. 7 of the Constitution
The organs of public power shall function
on the basis of, and within the limits of, the law.
The system of government of the Republic of Poland shall be based
on the separation of and balance between
the legislative, executive and judicial powers.
Local government shall perform public tasks not reserved
by the Constitution or statutes to the organs of other public powers.

Decentralisation
Decentralisation is a means of
• putting a certain public entity and/or a certain public
activity out of a fully centralised direction (control in the
English sense), and therefore out of the state administra-
tion (but not out of the system of public powers)
• giving such public law entity a competence of autono-
mous carrying out such activity
 on its own behalf
 on its own responsibility
The counterbalance to decentralisation should be super-

vision.

Decentralised administration is not the state admini-

stration in the strict sense of „the state”.
By contrast, in the time of „real socialism” all public admi-

nistration was officially the state administration, but there
was no such phenomenon which now could be called de-
centralisation. It is quite comprehensible as „real socia-
lism” relied on centralisation, and, even more, on concen-
tration of the power. Centralised state administration was
only an instrument in the hands of the highly centralised
apparatus of the Communist party.

Supervision
Supervision (in its Polish sense) is a specific kind of competen-
ce of an authority higher than that supervised, which means:
•less than competence of direction (control in the English sen-
se)
• more than competence of control (control in Polish sense, i.e.
right of simple examination and evaluation of controlled activi-
ties)
Supervision means rights to apply allowed instruments of su-

pervision (supervisory decision), but only after
• passing the procedure provided by the law
• proving that the activities supervised were not conforming to
the standards provided for in the law

Instruments of supervision are divided into those relating to

• organs (e.g. confirmation of the election, revocation or disso-
lution)
• persons (e.g. suspension, dismissal, degradation)
• acts (authorisation to issue an act, confirmation, suspension,
annulation / declaring illegality)
Supervision can be made

• ex ante, before the supervised activity is actually undertaken
• ex post, with respect to what was already done
In Poland legality (conformity with the law) is the only criterion

of supervision over activities (general acts) of territorial self-
government, and supervision is made only ex post.

Forms of decentralisation
According to the classical public law theory of Central

Europe there are four forms of decentralisation:
• self-government
• public undertaking
 public enterprise
public establishment (e.g. university, school, hos-

pital, museum, library)
•delegation of public tasks to institutions of self-
government, to enterprises, and to establishments, as
well as to non-public institutions, in particular NGOs

Public establishment
Article 15 of the Constitution

1. The territorial system of the Republic of Poland shall ensure the
decentralization of public power.
2. The basic territorial division of the State shall be determined by
statute, allowing for the social, economic and cultural ties which
ensure to the territorial units the capacity to perform their public
duties.
Basic territorial division of the Republic of Poland is indeed made for

the purposes of decentralization. It consists of three units:
• municipalities (gminy)
• districts (powiaty)
• regions / voivodships (województwa)

There are a variety of different arrangements which are often included in

the discussions on decentralization. For example G.S. Cheema and D.A. Ron-
dinelli have identified four major forms of decentralization:
 devolution – transfer of responsibility for governing, understood more
broadly – i.e. the creation or strengthening, financially or legally, of sub-
national units of governments, whose activities are substantially outside the
direct control of central government
 delegation – assignment of specific decision making authority – i.e. the
transfer of managerial responsibility for specifically defined functions to public
organizations (e.g. local governments) outside the normal bureaucratic struc-
ture of central government
 deconcentration – spatial relocation of decision making – the transfer of
some administrative responsibility or authority to lower levels within central
government ministries or agencies
 divestment – best treated as decentralization and it occurs when plan-
ning and administrative responsibility or other public functions are transferred
from government to voluntary, private, or non-governmental institutions with
clear benefits to and involvement of the public

H. Izdebski: Devolution denotes a specific type of decentralisation – a transfer
of a part of previous competences of the central power to macro-regional institutions.
Self-government
 territorial (general) self-government

 special self governments

Territorial self-government
Territorial self-government operates in all or in some units
of territorial division of the state: it is always present in
municipalities (basic units of territorial division) but more
and more frequently it is found at higher levels, which is,
in particular, the case of bigger states.
The contemporary principle is that diverse levels of ter-

ritorial self-government cannot be in any way regarded as
a hierarchical organisation; in particular, the respective
organs of higher level cannot reverse or change decisions
of lower organs.

Territorial self-government in Poland can be divided into:

• local self-government
 the self-government of municipalities
 the self government of districts
•regional self-government or the self-government of voi-

vodships
Regional government is indispensable in any bigger uni-

tary state inter alia due to regional policy of the European
Union.

Article 3 – Concept of local self-government

1. Local self-government denotes the right and the ability of local
authorities, within the limits of the law, to regulate and manage a
substantial share of public affairs under their own responsibility and
in the interests of the local population.
2. This right shall be exercised by councils or assemblies composed of
members freely elected by secret ballot on the basis of direct, equal,
universal suffrage, and which may possess executive organs
responsible to them. This provision shall in no way affect recourse to
assemblies of citizens, referendums or any other form of direct
citizen participation where it is permitted by statute.
Article 4 – Scope of local self-government
3. Public responsibilities shall generally be exercised, in preference, by
those authorities which are closest to the citizen. Allocation of re-
sponsibility to another authority should weigh up the extent and
nature of the task and requirements of efficiency and economy.


1. Units of territorial self-government shall possess legal personality.
They shall have rights of ownership and other property rights.
2. The self-governing nature of units of territorial self-government
shall be protected by the courts.

Special self-governments
• professional self-government
• business self-government
1. By means of a statute, self-governments may be created within a
profession in which the public repose confidence, and such self-
governments shall concern themselves with the proper practice of
such professions in accordance with, and for the purpose of pro-
tecting, the public interest.
2. Other forms of self-government shall also be created by means of
statute. Such self-governments shall not infringe the freedom to
practice a profession nor limit the freedom to undertake economic
activity.

Pharmacist in the 16th century.
Traditional self-government (autonomy)

of schools of higher education
Art. 70.5. of the Constitution

The autonomy of the institutions of higher education shall be ensured
in accordance with principles specified by statute.

Organ of public administration

The state administration (state in a broader sense) is co-
mposed of diverse elements but, as far as its mission of
representing imperium, i.e. the public power competence
that consists in ordering, forbidding and/or allowing, is
concerned, it is organs of public administration that con-
stitute its essential components.
The term „organ” is typical of the Germanic approach to public

administration (in the field of public law it reflects the Germanic civil
law concept of the organ of legal person). In the French and the
English tradition the notion of „authority” prevails over the concept of
organ.

Exemplary organs of public administration in Po-

land:
• the minister
• the voivod
• the mayor of municipality
Nota bene: the term organ is not used to the ministry, the
voivod office or the municipality office, which can be
defined as offices of the respective organs.

Offices of public administration

Offices have no powers of their own, as they are only an auxil-
lary apparatus of their chiefs – the organs they serve. Never-
theless employees of offices may express the imperial will of
the public power. They may do that if it is delegated to them
(such delegation is known in Poland as internal deconcentra-
tion) by their respective chief as the organ of public administra-
tion, and only on his/her/its behalf.
Art. 268a of the 1960 Code of Administrative Procedure

The organ of public administration may, in written form, authorise
employees of the organisational unit they direct to settle on a solution
to a given kind of matters, in particular to issue on its behalf ad-
ministrative decisions, procedural decisions, and certificates.

Types of organs
• unipersonal (single-person), i.e. composed of one per-
son
• collegial (board), i.e. composed of a number of persons
In contemporary public administration, the model of uniperso-

nal organs is predominant, although in each national admini-
strative system there are also collegial organs:
• at the top of administrative hierarchy
•in the main decision-making authorities of territorial self-
government (councils elected by the people)
• in the authorities of public audit

Tasks and competences

scope of activity public tasks legal competences
• the term „tasks” refers to the scope of administrative activi-
ties.
•the term „competences” concerns authorisation of a given
organ to act, within the field of its appropriate tasks, by means
of specific legal forms of activity attributed to it by law. It
means:
 an expressly and legally bestowed power to decide on a
given matter or issue of the public interest in a given legal
form
 not only a right but also an obligation binding the compe-
tent organ

„Hard” competences – administrative acts
Imperium solutions to problems arising within the sphere

of legal competence of an organ of public administration
are commonly called administrative acts. There are:
• normative administrative acts (administrative regula-
tions); to enter into force, they have to be published (in
Poland in the Journal of Laws or in the Voivodship Official
Journals)
• individual administrative acts (administrative decisions);
to have the legal effect, they have to be formally deliver-
ed to a given party or, at least, formally presented to it

Categories of tasks
• tasks of the state in strict sense; in Poland: tasks in the
field of governmental administration (zadania z zakresu
administracji rządowej)
• proper tasks (zadania własne) of self-government, esp.
tasks of units of territorial self-government
• commissioned tasks (zadania zlecone); transferred by an act of
Parliament
• entrusted tasks (zadania powierzone); transferred by virtue of
an agreement concluded between a competent organ of the state
administration and an authority of decentralised administration
In Poland, since the 1997 Constitution supervision over performance
of all tasks of units of territorial self-government has been restricted
to conformity with the law (art. 171).

Functions of public administration

• administration of order
• administration of provision
• administration of ownership
• administration of development
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) founder

of the science of public administration
in the United States.

Administration of order
(administracja reglamentacyjna)
Administration of order (administration of imperium) per-
forms the classical functions of ordering, forbidding or al-
lowing a certain conduct, by means of administrative acts,
normative and/or individual.
 the function of adjudication (the function of deciding in
individual cases)
 adjudicative administration and regulatory administra-
tion
H. Izdebski: Activities of administration of order, as classical, can still be car-
ried out in a traditional imperative way, though following such style of ad-
ministering, which is distant from the standards of good governance, seems
to be more and more difficult.

Administration of provision
(administracja świadcząca)
• provision of public services in the social field (educa-
tion, health care, social aid, etc.); these services are tradi-
tionally provided by public establishments (zakłady admi-
nistracyjne)
• provision of services qualified as utilities or public utili-
ties (public transport, telecommunications, water, electri-
city, gas supply, etc.); these services are traditionally pro-
vided by public enterprises (these days their role has been
diminishing, as some of them are transformed into public-
owned companies, which can be the first step towards
their privatisation)

Administration of ownership
(administracja właścicielska)
Administration of ownership (administration of dominium)

performs tasks of management of public property:
• public goods (streets, public parks, etc.)
• administrative assets (used by respective offices in order
to perform certain public tasks)
• business assets

Administration of development
Administration of development means public planning in

its various aspects involving:
• town and country planning
• regional strategic planning
•development planning within the framework of the Euro-
pean Union structural policies

Concluding Remark
Do not ask what the Government can do for you.

Ask why it doesn't.
Gerhard Kocher

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Basic Terminology

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

 modern state cannot function without public administra-

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Jacek Jagielski: 1/2

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

It is widely accepted that administrative law:

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Substantive a.l. Procedural a.l.

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Europeanization of administrative law

 in the first case European law influences the content of

 in the other case the norms of European law form the

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Public interest – England

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Development of „modern interventionist

 freedom of property  freedom of want

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

The counterbalance to decentralisation should be super-

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Decentralised administration is not the state admini-

By contrast, in the time of „real socialism” all public admi-

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Supervision means rights to apply allowed instruments of su-

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Instruments of supervision are divided into those relating to

Supervision can be made

In Poland legality (conformity with the law) is the only criterion

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

According to the classical public law theory of Central

public establishment (e.g. university, school, hos-

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Article 15 of the Constitution

Basic territorial division of the Republic of Poland is indeed made for

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

There are a variety of different arrangements which are often included in

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

 territorial (general) self-government

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

The contemporary principle is that diverse levels of ter-

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Territorial self-government in Poland can be divided into:

 the self government of districts

•regional self-government or the self-government of voi-

Regional government is indispensable in any bigger uni-

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Article 3 – Concept of local self-government

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Article 165 of the Constitution

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Traditional self-government (autonomy)

Art. 70.5. of the Constitution

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat

Organ of public administration

The term „organ” is typical of the Germanic approach to public

dr. hab. Jerzy Supernat