The purpose of administrative proceedings: protection against violations by public authorities or ensuring the correct application of law by them

Abstract

The pertinence of the matter of correct understanding of the purpose of administrative proceedings in Ukraine is caused by the fact that the trends in the development of the practice of interpretation and application of the Ukrainian legislation on administrative litigation, as well as the shifts in scientific studies of the principles and rules of administrative proceedings, indicate that there are fundamental discrepancies in the understanding of the purpose of administrative proceedings among the scientific community and administrative courts, which lead to the distortion of the outcomes of the functioning of the administrative justice system in the practical dimension. The purpose of the article is to determine the purpose of administrative proceedings in the light of its nature and social purpose. The dialectical method of scientific research was used, making it possible to consider the purpose of administrative proceedings in view of its continuous development in the theory and practice of administrative litigation in its unity and contradictions. The author as well resorted to normative-dogmatic method, serving as a tool for understanding the purpose of administrative proceedings in accordance with its legislative definition. As a result of the study it was determined that the point of view, according to which the activity of administrative courts should be directed not only towards the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of natural and legal persons in the public law domain from violations by public authorities, but also towards the judicial review of proper satisfaction of the public interest in the activities of public authorities with regard to the performance of the public powers entrusted to them, by establishing the comprehensive truth within the framework of the case and by ensuring lawfulness in disputed legal relations through the correct definition of the rights and obligations of their participants. Moreover, the author maintains that by collecting information and documents to determine those decision, action or inaction of the public authority, which should have been made (committed) outside the context of protecting the rights and legitimate interests of the relevant private individuals, the administrative court takes over the governmental executive functions of the public authorities, protecting the relevant public interest and becoming part of the executive branch of power. It was, furthermore, noted that even an administrative lawsuit filed by a public authority against natural or legal person is not deemed to be a way to protect the rights and interests of the respective public authority, as the administrative justice has a different task.