Administrative Procedural Principles of Judicial Control over Administrative Discretion

Judicial administrative law is presently taking shape in the Russian Federation under the influence of constitutional norms. Its primary task is the adjudication of administrative cases by courts of general jurisdiction within the framework of the Code of Administrative Procedure of the Russian Federation and the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, as well as by arbitrazh courts under the Arbitration Procedure Code. When adjudicating administrative cases, courts almost invariably face the issue of evaluating the administrative discretion exercised by public administration bodies. For many years, scholars of administrative law and procedure have called for a closer linkage between administrative discretion and judicial review, or even for the subordination of administrative discretion to judicial jurisdiction. The vast majority of judicial administrative cases originate from extra-judicial administrative relations, meaning they have a pronounced substantive-law character. Consistency and coherence in resolving administrative cases are based on the administrative-procedural principles applied by courts and public-administration bodies. Universal administrative-procedural principles apply to both stages of the process (extra-judicial and judicial), ensuring continuity between them. Based on these principles, courts develop additional specialized principles for both judicial and extra-judicial administrative procedure, including principles for determining the limits of administrative discretion. A scholarly assessment of the theory of administrative discretion, current legislation, and judicial practice makes it possible to propose criteria for determining the limits of administrative discretion in the adjudication of cases. Based on an examination of modern Russian case law, the article considers administrative-procedural principles as legal guarantees of the lawfulness of discretionary administrative acts. It identifies principles particularly suitable for judicial review of administrative discretion, including fairness, the protection of trust (legitimate expectations), proportionality, and reasonableness. The article concludes that the application of administrative-procedural principles can not only restrict administrative discretion but also require public-administration bodies to provide predictable and reasonable legal regulation and avoid formalistic approaches when resolving administrative cases.