Reconsidering the legal regulation of the usage of administrative policies

• Main Author: CHNG, Wei Yao, Kenny
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2022
• Subjects: Administrative decision-making; Fettering of discretion; Jurisprudence; Legitimate expectation; Rule of law; Administrative law; Administrative Law; Public Law and Legal Theory
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3812; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/5770/viewcontent/Reconsidering_the_legal_regulation_of_the_usage_of_administrative_policies_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Policies are of great practical importance in administrative governance. Yet, doctrinal and normative ambiguities remain in the law regulating the usage of administrative policies. Specifically, there exists a well-known tension between the rule against fettering and the legitimate expectations doctrine. Approaching this issue from a normative angle and drawing upon T.R.S. Allan’s reflections on the rule of law, the paper will argue that a unified legal approach governing the usage of administrative policies, premised on the normative objective of furthering the rule of law as the rule of reason, will go a significant way towards resolving this tension and addressing the doctrinal and normative ambiguities in this practically important area of law.