Discretion in Administrative Law

If administrative law is seen as the study of the use of power, one of its most important interests is discretion, since the limits on discretion are at the same time the limits on the power that anyone can have in our type of democracy. The massive expansion of the powers of the state, and the growth of immensely powerful committees, commissions and other bodies, against which may be juxtaposed a new and fervent interest in civil liberties and human rights, renders a re-examination of discretion and discretionary powers both essential and inevitable. It is the purpose of this essay to clarify the concept of discretion, to demonstrate how far the courts have been willing to tolerate it, and to chart some of the new paths that appear to be opening before those who advocate wide judicial review.