The two basic functions of the administrative judiciary Among the important functions of the administrative judiciary, two are basic: the preventive function and the repressive function.Administrative courts protect, as a preventive measure, the rights of individuals. This type of protection ‘prevents the exceeding of the powers of the executive and administrative powers’ to the detriment of the citizens. This function of the administrative judiciary is simultaneously expressed by the ‘influence on the administrative procedure’.
The repressive function of the administrative judiciary is expressed in the application of sanctions, when a ‘concrete violation of the legal order’ occurs.
There are a number of problems that arise and may arise in the practice of administrative courts.Among the most prominent problems is that of defense, ‘not in time’, judicial-legal. A number of cases are awaiting trial, proceedings are dragging on and citizens are losing faith in the courts in general.
The other problem is related to the impossibility of appealing the decisions of the administrative courts. Cases where appeals against decisions of administrative courts are excluded should be reviewed, although recent practices are favorable and, in principle, provide for appeals against decisions of administrative courts.A third problem can be mentioned in the efforts of some countries to harmonize their legislation with the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. In these efforts, an insufficient degree of harmonization of administrative disputes with this general document is encountered.
In relation to the administrative disputes themselves, specific problems arise and may arise. If an attempt were made to ‘summarize’, these three problems could be singled out: one, institutional non-regulation of administrative conflict; two, incomplete definition of administrative conflict and, three, insufficient expansion of overseeing the legality of all individual acts of state and public power. It is interesting to look at the experiences in the region, where those of the administrative courts in Croatia and Slovenia stand out.
