Judicial review of administrative action

It has already been explained (cf. supra, p. 39) that the administration is subject to a separate system of judicial treatment from that which deals with disputes between private parties. Both the structure and the jurisdiction of the administrative courts have been dealt with at length in Chapter 2 (supra, p. 39), whereas the procedure before them is explained in Chapter 9 (infra, p. 184). What we are concerned with here are the grounds on which judicial action may be taken against the public authorities before the administrative courts. These are known collectively in French law under the term le contentieux administratif.