Discretionary Justice: A Preliminary Inquiry

Professor McGee reviews Discretionary Justice: A Preliminary Inquiry, by Kenneth Culp Davis. Davis, suggesting both that we are a government of men as much as of laws and that discretion begins where law ends, sets out to determine how much unnecessary discretionary power can be contracted and how necessary discretionary power can be both confined and structured

Once More unto the Breach, Dear Friends - Levin on the Guidance Exception

The late, great Kenneth Culp Davis was known for many things, but humility was not among them. He knew the answers; he knew them better than did the Supreme Court; and he knew that he knew them. So it is remarkable that there was a problem in administrative law he found “baffling.” That was the distinction between legislative rules, interpretive rules, and statements of policy

Book Reviews

Discretionary Justice: A Preliminary Inquiry By Kenneth Culp Davis Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. 1969. Pp. xii,233. $8.50 reviewer: Maurice H. Merrill ============================ Gambling and Organized Crime By Rufus King Washington:Public Affairs Press, 1969. Pp. viii, 239.$6.00 reviewer: Tom C. Clark ========================== The Throwaway Children By Lisa Aversa Richette New York:J.B. Lippincott, 1969. Pp. x, 342. $6.95 reviewer: Anthony Plat

The Administrative Law Legacy of Kenneth Culp Davis

Kenneth Culp Davis, one of the twentieth century\u27s outstanding authorities on administrative law, passed away in September 2003. This commemorative essay surveys his manifold contributions to the field. The concept that is most often associated with his name, the distinction between adjudicative facts and legislative facts, is still a crucial reference point in analyses of the right to be heard in judicial or administrative proceedings. His influence has been felt in a number of other areas as well. During the past few decades, for example, administrative adjudication has become more streamlined, rulemaking has become more widely employed, and obstacles to obtaining judicial review, such as standing and ripeness defenses, have been relaxed. Davis played a large role in promoting each of these developments. Some of his other initiatives, such as his efforts to tame the administration of discretionary justice, have been less successful. The essay concludes with a suggestion that Davis\u27s ideas, influential as they were, might have had even greater impact if the legal system had not, in recent times, veered away from the kind of open-ended judicial common lawmaking that much of his work presupposed