Definition of Administrative Act in English

Within the legal field, it is possible to distinguish different kinds of acts. One of them is the administrative one, which consists of the declaration that is manifested voluntarily within the framework of the actions of the public function and has the particularity of producing, immediately, individual legal effects. In other words, it is an expression of administrative power that can be imposed imperatively and unilaterally.

Being declarations, the material acts of the public administration are not included within its administrative acts; The latter, on the other hand, are classified as executives because they do not require authorization from the Judiciary to establish their characteristics and that they are mandatory.

Classification of administrative acts

There are many currents that have been in charge of identifying the different types of administrative acts; Among all of them, the most accepted is based on the segmentation carried out by Gabino Fraga. The acts could be classified:

* By its nature: the will of the person doing it is taken into account. If your objective is to modify the law or have an effect on the rights that it regulates, they are legal. If it does not have the will to cause legal effects but is created in order to execute powers of the public administration such as street paving or cleaning, they are called material or execution acts;

* For the wills that allow its creation: according to the organizations that form it, they can be unilateral if it only affects the organization that carries it out, or plurilateral if they express the will of two or more people or entities. Within the plurilaterals are the collegial, collective, status and contractual acts;

* Due to the relationship that exists between their will and the law: according to the rights and obligations that the law imposes, the acts can be obligatory (also called regulated or linked, people or entities must abide by all the aspects imposed by the law and there is no room for individual) or discretionary decisions (certain licenses are allowed and people can make decisions). It is necessary to emphasize that both acts are observed by law, so that neither can obviate the conditions that it determines;

* By the radius in which its actions affect: in this classification, it is possible to differentiate between internal and external acts. The former refer to those actions carried out to regulate the internal operation of the law in an administration. The latter comprise the most important activities of the State, through which it itself orders and controls the action of internal or individual acts;

* For their purpose: they are intermediaries, or they exercise tools so that the fundamental acts of administrative activity have an effective destination. According to the reason why the acts are carried out, they can be divided into preliminaries (actions that are essential for the Administration to exercise the powers of the Public Power, directly or indirectly affect individuals), decision (unilateral declarations of will where there is a record of the modification, extinction or recognition of a specific subjective legal situation) and of execution (actions that must enforce the resolutions taken and administrative decisions in all acts performed by individuals, whether material in nature or legal);

* Due to its content and legal consequences: in this classification there can be found others that make it possible to differentiate between acts carried out to broaden the legal sphere, others to limit said sphere and those that allow proof of the existence of a State.

When the typification of administrative acts obeys those for whom they are intended, a distinction can be made between those of a general nature (their recipients are not determined) and those of a singular nature (which are directed at an individual).

The acts can also maintain a link with previous regulations. In these cases, they are regulated administrative acts (related to a norm that determines their content), unlike non-regulated ones (when you can choose between different resolutions).

Administrative Act