Gyoseiho Gaisetsu I: Gyoseiho Soron (Administrative Law Overview I: General Administrative Law - 8th Edition)

A general characteristic of this book is the large amount of information contained in it. The number of court cases, laws, and regulations quoted is far above that found in similar books. Another characteristic of this book is its treatment of important local ordinances in addition to the national system of law. Although some are of the opinion that the book should be termed a “detailed explanation” rather than an “overview,” the present author believes that there is much to discuss in administrative law, and the use of “overview” in the title should be maintained because it merely touches on the essence of administrative law.
 
The book is unique as a systematic explication of administrative law due to the following points. First, it is organized with an eye to the overall lifecycle: the acquisition, management (including disclosure, display, and publication), and disposal or transfer of administrative documents to the National Archives or elsewhere. Traditionally, applications and notifications discussed as part of administrative procedures were positioned as part of obtaining administrative information. The viewpoint of the Archives Management Act is presented as a general law, whereas the Administrative Institution Information Disclosure Act and the Administrative Agency Personal Information Protection Act are presented as special laws. Moreover, the whistleblower protection system that was viewed as being exclusively in the domain of labor law and the surcharge reduction system that was viewed as being exclusively in the domain of antitrust law are noted as having special significance as means of obtaining administrative information and are positioned as such. For the first time, the book mentions the establishment of accountability for moving historic official documents to the national archives as well as the use of these documents.
 
One characteristic of this book is its rejection of efficacy in “administrative acts,” particularly, the official power theory that was central to administrative law within theories of forms of administrative actions and its detailed explanation of the positive law system. Despite broad agreement with the idea that efficacy in the “official power” of “administrative acts” is not inherent, texts on administrative law often explain it using the term “official power.” The present author believes that such an explanation does more harm than good, in that it gives readers the impression that there is an a priori official power in “administrative acts” and that it leads to useless arguments about the characteristics of lawsuits per Article 133 of the Land Acquisition Act. Hence, in the section on “administrative acts,” it attempts to explain exclusive jurisdiction theory for revocation suits, as generally explained in administrative relief theory, in place of “official power.”
 
With regard to administrative procedure, the writer has maintained an interest in the move to online administrative procedures, the government having had the goal of bringing administrative work into the information age since the 1990s, which brought about transformations in legal systems and in principles related to administrative law and those based on paper documents. Therefore, issues related to bringing administrative procedures online are discussed in the section on administrative procedures and various issues of interpretation brought about by this move are noted. In addition, attention is paid to administrative law theory, such as consultative public opinion surveys, even though it is hoped that there might be comparisons of systems not covered in other similar books readily shown in column format, making this a catalyst for the development of administrative law theory.
 

(Written by UGA Katsuya, Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics / 2017)