Administrative law is the lawofthe government(Richards 2007). Public health is considered to be a classic government service, and is also a key administrative law practice area. The basic practice of administrative law is by government agencies and individuals or corporations who are regulated by governmental agencies or who want to influence governmental agencies. While some administrative law is practiced in the courtroom, most is outside the courtroom(Richards 2007).
Administrative law principles make the aspects of public health stonger in a variety of ways. All courts, from the local district court in the community to the United States Supreme Court, recognize administrative law principles and the importance of letting public agencies do their job. In many cases,seeming weakness in public health laws, especially those dealing with emergencies, are really failures by counsel to understand how to make the laws work for the agency. This is a common problem of legislatures which often weaken public health laws because they have mistaken ideas of what is necessary to sustain public health actions when and if the actions are challenged in court.
Public health often considered as the first administrative law. The public health service act was among the first laws passed by Congress. It dealt with the health sailors and the inspection of quarantine of ships entering US waters(Richards 2007). Public health was also one of the first governmental functions, along with the first government agencies being the Boards of Health(Richards 2007). Administrative law controls much of the organization and internal function of government agencies, including the courts and the police(Richards 2007).
There is much political control in public health and administrative law. Public health agencies face two critical political threats. First, the pressure to change public health policy to statisfy political agendas that are not based on good public health principles. At one...