Administrative Jurisdiction

as defined by law, the activity of governmental administrative agencies and their officials in solving individual administrative cases and in applying the corresponding legal sanctions by administrative procedure. The jurisdiction of the governmental administrative agencies in the USSR and other socialist countries is based on the strict observance of the principle of legality and is clearly regulated by the appropriate legal acts—for instance, the Apr. 12, 1968, edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On the Procedure for Hearing Citizens’ Requests, Petitions, and Complaints.” Several agencies of the USSR governmental administration and their officials exercise administrative jurisdiction within certain limits set by law—for instance, the chief of a local militia office can impose a fine for the commission of an administrative offense (a minor offense) which manifests itself as petty hooliganism. In the USSR, according to law, people’s judges, administrative commissions for cases of minors, and several other agencies have been invested with the powers of administrative jurisdiction.

The organization of the activity of governmental agencies in exercising administrative jurisdiction is regulated by administrative procedural law. Soviet law stipulates that administrative jurisdiction must be exercised within a legal framework in a public manner and that all the guarantees and rights of the citizen provided by law must be observed. These guarantees include the right of a person whose case is being heard under administrative jurisdiction to acquaint himself with all the materials of the case, to present evidence in his own defense, and to demand the summoning of witnesses, the appointment of experts by the commission, the interpellation of documents, and so forth.

In bourgeois states, the administrative jurisdiction of administrative bodies is more broadly defined and the jurisdiction of the courts is correspondingly more restricted. In these states, the activity of administrative authority is broadly defined as to have free discretion (so-called discretionary power) in applying measures of administrative penalty. For instance, in Great Britain the Council of Administrative Tribunals was created by the law on tribunals and inquiries (1958); this council hears a great number of cases, which are thus removed from the courts of general jurisdiction. In the Federal Republic of Germany the jurisdiction of administrative bodies has been significantly broadened by the law on administrative offenses of Mar. 25, 1952.