From Constitutional Law to Administrative Law

The Public Administration aims to pursue the public interest, which takes precedence over private interests. This primacy gives the Public Administration certain prerogatives of authority, which allow it to impose on individuals the solutions that best serve the public interest, even if sacrificing the interests of individuals. In this context, and as far as continental based administrative systems are concerned, as is the case of the Portuguese and Spanish systems, the existence of the privilege of prior enforcement is justified, i.e. the power of the Public Administration to impose its decisions on individuals, without the need for prior recourse to a judicial body. Administrative Law is strongly connected to Constitutional Law, since both of them presuppose the exercise of the ius imperii of the State over individuals (they are branches of Public Law), having arisen at the same time, i.e. in the aftermath of the French Revolution, under the banners of liberty, equality and fraternity.