Administrative Law in Germany-Citizen v. State

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The continuity of the citizen's radio and television programs, the security of his bank deposits, the individual's protection against unfair discrimination in employment, his right to have light and power at inexpensive rates, his protection against fraud in the securities markets, his right to reasonable rates on his travels by air, on railroads and buses, to mention only a few of the necessities of modern life, represent also some of the new freedoms for which the individual may require the protection of the administrative, or if necessary, the judicial process. The following discussion will illustrate the methods by which under the German legal system these rights are guaranteed to its citizens. Or, to express the idea from another viewpoint, it will explain methods by which the state is restrained from impairing constitutionally guaranteed individual rights. For convenience in comparing the German system of administrative tribunals with other systems, administrative law in the Western world may be classified into three main groups: (1) The Anglo-American system, which has developed from timid attempts by regular civil courts of general jurisdiction to assume the power of sitting as appellate courts over administrative determinations involving the individual in his disputes with the executive branch of the government. This process led step by step to an ever-increasing shift of power to the civil courts in controversies between the citizen and his government, until the authority of judicial interpretation was no longer questioned. (2) Under the French system, the administrative judge sits in a distinct and final tribunal. The French system has also been adopted by Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Greece, Turkey, some states of the Near East, and Latin America. Here the protection of the individual is vested in a Council of State (Conseil d'ttat), an institution which exercises both executive and judicial functions, with complete independence of the judicial members from the executive in judicial matters. (3) The German system has created genuine specialized courts