The Spanish Administrative Procedure Act of 1958 is one of the most influential yet understudied pieces of administrative legislation in the modern legal world. Its principles, concepts, and institutional framework have shaped the development of administrative procedure legislation across Latin America, helping to define how public administration operates and how citizens' rights are protected.
Drawing on comparative research covering Spain and nine Latin American jurisdictions, including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay, this volume examines the emergence, spread, and evolution of general administrative procedure legislation. It demonstrates that such legislation has become nearly universal throughout Latin America, providing a common legal framework for administrative decision-making.
The contributors identify significant similarities between Spanish and Latin American approaches, not only in the structure of administrative procedure legislation, but also in its underlying objectives and conception of procedural rights. These shared features have contributed to the development of a common administrative law culture centred on legality, efficiency, and the protection of individual rights.
At the same time, the volume challenges the notion that legal influence flowed in only one direction. While Spanish legal ideas played a central role in shaping administrative procedure legislation across Latin America, the book reveals a more complex process of exchange and adaptation. Offering new insights into the circulation of legal ideas across jurisdictions, European Administrative Law in Latin America will be an essential resource for scholars and practitioners of administrative law, comparative public law, and governance.
