La formación y el desarrollo en Europa de la jurisdicción contencioso-administrativa. Su adquisición definitiva de un status de jurisdicción plena y efectiva

Abstract

Contentious-administrative law arose with the French Revolution as something completely different. It had no roots in the great historic strands of European law as it stood at the time. Nor did it originally have the characteristics it has today, which give it full, effective jurisdiction. This article analyses how national legislatures in countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, simultaneously strengthened the role of contentious-administrative jurisdiction, investing judges with direct powers to enforce their rulings and broad-ranging faculties to graduate and even exclude the automatic authority of acts by the government administration to be executed. These changes have altered citizens’ previous status as passive administrates and given them some control over the government administration, with the capacity to contend with it on an equal footing.