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

The legal action filed by the department is the first step in a potentially drawn out process, which could lead to a public hearing before an administrative law judge.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 4, 2026

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

But with regard to administrative law suits and other special law cases they shall be attended to according to the provisions of this law.

From The Fight for the Republic in China by Simpson, Bertram Lenox