ABSTRACT
The term ‘droit administratif’ can be interpreted in a number of ways. In the narrow sense of the term, it means the special rules and principles which have been developed by the administrative courts in France, which are distinct and separate from those to which the case law of the ordinary courts has given rise. In this interpretation, it is often used in the original French even in English works on administrative law, since it is particularly in this respect that the French system of justice differs from its English counterpart. In the very broad sense of the term, it encompasses everything which affects the organisation of public life other than the constitutional organs examined in the previous chapter. As such, it covers the local authorities, the other public bodies, the relationship between the public sector and the private sector, and the relations between the administration and the citizen – including various means of dispute settlement (mainly but not exclusively before the administrative courts). It is this broad interpretation of the term which will govern the approach adopted in this chapter.
