Pure Administrative Adjudication: an Introduction

Abstract

ALTHOUGH the Attorney General's Committee on Administrative Pro/ cedure clearly emphasized the importance of administrative adjudication, scholarship in administrative law has generally ignored the importance and vitality of the administrative process. Today the conclusions of the Attorney General's Committee with regard to this area have even greater validity than in 1941. The Committee emphasized that informal procedures constitute the vast bulk of administrative adjudication and are truly the lifeblood of the administrative process. No study of administrative procedure can be adequate if it fails to recognize this fact and focus attention upon improvement at these stages.' The purpose of this article is to introduce the reader to the concept of administrative adjudication, which falls within the realm, and is farthest removed from the individuals directly affected. The significance of this process today will be emphasized through reference to one of the most important administrative agencies in the pure adjudicative area, the Veterans' Administration.