Rule of law discretion: A limited power

• António Francisco de Sousa ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidade Do Porto

     Universidade Do Porto

     Santo Ildefonso, Portugal

     
• Localización: Revista Ibérica Do Direito, ISSN-e 2184-7487, Vol. 6, Nº. 2, 2025, págs. 30-50
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • Administrative discretion continues to be the main vexata quaestio of administrative law under the rule of law. Simultaneously fundamental and highly complex, administrative discretion has traditionally been used for purposes unrelated to law and material justice, as a means of arbitrariness and the abuse of power. In this article we seek to subject discretionary power to legal-administrative principles (values) and intense judicial control, precisely so that discretion is not distorted and becomes anti-right and anti-public interest. This evolution presupposes a new culture of public power, based on the functional exercise of power.