Abstract
Although an administrative act is the most characteristic and frequent mode of exercising the administrative powers and functions in German law, quite often the administration also acts through contracts. Contracts into which the administration may enter may be, as in France, either private or public. Private contracts stand on the same footing as contracts between two private persons. They are regulated by the German Civil Code and disputes with respect to them are settled by the ordinary courts. Public or administrative contracts are the subject-matter of administrative law and any disputes with respect to them lie within the jurisdiction of the administrative courts. The law on administrative contracts is still in the developing stage but the basic rules governing them have been now laid down in the Law of Administrative Procedure 1976 supplemented by the special Federal and Land laws, judicial precedents, and the German Civil Code.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Wolff HJ, Bachof O: Verwaltungsrecht I, 345 (9th ed, 1974). Also Lange K: Die Abgrenzung des öffentlichrechtlichen Vertrages vom privatrechtlichen Vertrag, [1983] NVwZ 313, 322.
Erichsen H-U, Martens W: Das Verwaltungshandeln, in Erichsen H-U, Martens W (eds): Allgemeines Verwaltungsrecht, 234 (4th ed, 1979 ).
The word Koppelungsverbot cannot be exactly translated into English but it means prohibition against copulation or joining of statutory benefits or obligations with other counter benefits not permitted under law. The public services which the administration is under an obligation to provide cannot be made dependent upon counter benefits from the citizen.
See below, p 78.
See decision of 6 July 1973, 42 BVerwGE 331, 334.
Id, at 338 and also decision of 23 March 1977, 52 BVerwGE 183, 187.
Decision of 7 April 1961, 16 OVG LbgE, 471, 475.
Decisions of 5 June 1959, 8 BVerwGE 329; of 18 April 1975, 48 BVerwGE 166, 168; of 5 Oct 1965 [ 1967 ] DVBI. 40 (BVerwG).
Decision of 14 Nov 1975, 49 BVerwGE 359.
Decision of 21 June 1960 [ 1960 ] DOV 799 (OVG Munster); of 6 July 1973, 42 BVerwGE 331, 341.
Kopp FO: Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz,661 (2d ed, 1980).
Erichsen, Martens, above, n 2 at 240.
Maurer H: Allgemeines Verwaltungsrecht,269 ff (1980); cf. Erichsen, Martens, above, n 2 at 241.
Decision of 24 Feb 1978 [ 1978 ] DVBI 610, 613 (BVerwG).
See Mitchell JDB: The Contracts of Public Authorities,182ff (1954); Brown LN, Garner JF: French Administrative Law,110ff. (2nd ed, 1973).
Decisions of 25 Nov 1966 [1969] DVBI 796, 798 (BVerwG); of 21 Jan 1973 [ 1975 ] DVBI 46, 47 (OVG Munster); and Veelken M: Zur Problematik und Unwirksamkeit der sogenannten Garisonverträge, [1970] DVB1 924, 926.
Decision of 30 March 1973 [ 1973 ] DVBI 696, 697 (OVG Münster).
Ibid.
VwVfG, s 60.
See generally Turpin C: Government Contracts,16ff (1972) and Mitchell JDB, above, n 15 at 220 ff.
See, for example, the Constitution of India, art. 299.
See Ramana v IA Authority of India,AIR 1979, SC 1628; EE and CLtd v State of WB,AIR 1975, SC 266; Kasturi Lal v. State of J and K,AIR 1980 SC 1992.
Decision of 26 Oct. 1961, 36 BGHZ 91, 96.
See Appendix I.
Wolff, Bachof, above, n I at 106. The authors also mention various laws that give special treatment to the fiscal activities of the administration.
See decisions of 23 June 1967, 27 BVerwGE 225; of 27 June 1969, 32 BVerwGE 252; of 27 Oct 1967 [ 1968 ] DVBI 349 (OVG Luneburg) of 16 Jan 1957, 6 BVfGE 45.
Decision of 10 Dec 1958, 29 BGHZ 76, 80 ff.
Decision of 23 Sept 1969, 52 BGHZ 325, 328.
Erichsen, Martens, above, n 2 at 260.
See cases cited in n 22 above.
See Sukhdev Singh v Bhagat Ram,AIR 1975 SC 1331; Ajay Hasiav Khalid Mujib,AIR 1981 SC 87; and Som Prakash v Union of India,AIR 1981 S C 212.
Erichsen, Martens, above, n 2 at 263.
Decisions of 15 Dec 1970, 30 BVerfGE 1, 20ff; of 9 Feb 1966, 23 BVerwGE 223; and of 9 Feb 1967, 26 BVerwGE 169.
Decisions of 11 March 1964 [1965] DVBI 447 (Bay VGH); of 4Oct 1966 [1967] DVBI 51 (OVG Münster)
Decision of 25 Aug 1971 [1971] DVBI 858 (BVerwG).
Decision of 26 Sept 1969, 34 BVerwGE 69 [1977] DVBI 642 (OVG Hamburg).
Decision of 18 Jan 1977.
Erichsen, Martens, above, n 2 at 224; Forsthoff E: Lehrbuch des Verwaltungsrechts I,310 (10th ed, 1973). Forsthoff says: `Plan is not a mixed form of rule and administrative act rather it is sui generis (aliud).… It remains an unsolved remainder’.
Decision of 29 May 1964, 18 BVerwGE 318. Also see Schmidt-Assmann E: Planung unter dem Grundgesetz,[1974] DOV 541.
Decision of 23 July 1967, 27 BVerwGE 226, 227.
Decision of 3 May 1956, 3 BVerwGE 258, 265.
Forsthoff, above, n 38 at 304ff Compare, the decision cited in the preceding note and the decision of 4 Aug 1956, 4 BVerwGE 68.
Wolff, Bachof, above, n 1 at 399.
Above, ch 3.
Wolff, Bachof: Verwaltungsrecht III, 355 ff (4th ed, 1978 ).
Rüfner W: Das Recht der öffentlich-rechtlichen Schadensersatz-und Entschädigungsleistungen,in Erichsen and Martens, above, n 2 at 457. Also Ossenbühl F: Staatshaftungsrecht,176ff (2nd ed, 1978).
See Buxton v Minister of Housing and Local Govt [1961] 1 Q B 278.
Wade HWR: Administrative Law,171–72 (5th ed, 1982).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Singh, M.P. (1985). Administrative Powers: Contracts, Private-Law Acts, Real Acts, and Planning. In: German Administrative Law. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02457-7_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02457-7_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-02459-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-02457-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive