Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Foundations and analytical dimensions
- Part II New conceptual developments: Resource-based approach and analytical dimensions
- Part III The 10 public action resources
- Part IV Outlook and advice for practical application
- Conclusion: Strengths and weaknesses of the proposed approach
- References
- Index
7 - Law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Preface
- Introduction
- Part I Foundations and analytical dimensions
- Part II New conceptual developments: Resource-based approach and analytical dimensions
- Part III The 10 public action resources
- Part IV Outlook and advice for practical application
- Conclusion: Strengths and weaknesses of the proposed approach
- References
- Index
Summary
Definition
It [the law] is the ultimate source of legitimation of all public action. The different actors are allocated legal resources by all of the general rules of constitutional, civil and public law and by the rules specific to a given sectoral policy. By way of illustration, we can refer here to the right of appeal of NGOs, the rights guaranteed under private law contracts and property rights, the permanent legal basis enabling a public authority to impose speed limits and driving bans (for example, to reduce smog levels in Berlin), the rule defining standing or locus standi for the formulation of opposition in the context of submission to a public enquiry. As a resource, the law consists in the capacity of an actor to act by means of legal norms and provisions.… It is common … for an actor to be unable to mobilize the resource law due to an institutional rule prohibiting this (for example, impossibility of appealing a decision further when all other means of appeal have been exhausted). (Knoepfel et al, 2010: 61-2)
Specifics
Let us recall the identification of the four functions of the law (as specified at the end of Chapter 3): it cannot be stressed enough that only the mobilization of the law (the fourth function) is used to define the resource Law. This function describes the law ‘as an important resource of the public action whose main service that can be mobilized by an actor is the right to be able to impose a behaviour that complies with the objective law on another actor based on their authority (political-administrative actor, including the courts).’ To be able to mobilize this service the actor must have a right of use (opposable subjective right) that is conferred on them by a rule that features in the objective law. For the public actors, this right consists in an explicit norm of competency. It should be noted that the nature of the mobilization can be highly varied and range from a simple substantiation to misappropriation, circumvention or innovation (Schweizer, 2015: 80ff)
Legal rules are obviously also decisive for the recourse to all other public action resources.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Public Policy Resources , pp. 121 - 132Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2018