administrative law

American  

noun

1. the body of rules and principles that governs the duties and operations of federal or state administrative agencies, as commissions and boards.

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Etymology

Origin of administrative law

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Last month, the state public-service commission ruled Sleca could abandon 158 customers, including the Boss family, but sent the case over the remaining 124 back to an administrative law judge.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

Jeff Narvil, 57, an administrative law judge from Jackson, Mississippi, has spent the past 14 months studying Welsh, largely on his own, often in the early hours of the morning.

From BBC • Feb. 8, 2026

“Just because these tools can produce a lot of words doesn’t mean that those words add up to a high-quality government decision,” said Bridget Dooling, a professor at Ohio State University who studies administrative law.

From Salon • Feb. 2, 2026

The commission went much further than an administrative law judge, who, after a multiday hearing, concluded that Lee violated five of 10 counts and recommended a fine of nearly $44,000.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 18, 2025

In 1822 appeared his Questions de droit administratif, in which he for the first time brought together and gave scientific shape to the scattered elements of administrative law.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 4 "Coquelin" to "Costume" by Various