The Evolution of Law and the State in Europe: Seven Lessons

by Spyridon Flogaitis

Overview

Most books about public power and the state deal with their subject from the point of view of legal theory, sociology or political science. This book, without claiming to deliver a comprehensive theory of law and state, aims to inform by offering a fresh reading of history and institutions, particularly as they have developed in continental Europe and European political and legal science. Drawing on a remarkably wide range of sources from both Western and Eastern Europe, the author suggests that only by knowing the history of the state, and state administration since the twelfth century, can we begin to comprehend the continuing importance of the state and public powers in modern Europe. In an era of globalization, when the importance of international law and institutions frequently lead to the claim that the state either no longer exists or no longer matters, the truth is in fact more complex. We now live in an era where the balance is shifting away from the struggle to build states based on democratic values, towards fundamental values existing above and beyond the borders of nations and states, under the watchful gaze of judges bound by the rule of law.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509912995
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/23/2017
Pages:	122
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.26(d)

About the Author

Spyridon Flogaitis is currently Professor of Administrative Law at the University of Athens, Director of the European Public Law Organization, and an Attorney at Law of the Greek High Court and the Council of State. He is also a member of the Appeals Board of the European Space Agency. He was formerly President of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal (UNAT), Minister of the Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization (Aug-Sept. 2007) and Minister of the Interior (Aug-Sept. 2009).He has a Degree in Law from Athens University, a Docteur en Droit from the University of Paris II (Pantheon-Assas), a Docteur en Histoire from the University of Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne), and a Diplome de l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. He is Doctor honoris causa, at the National School of Political Science and Public Administration, Bucarest and at the Faculty of Law, University of Lisbon. He is also a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur (French Republic), and Cavalliere del'Ordine di Merito (Italian Republic).During 2013 he was the Arthur Goodhart Visiting Professor of Legal Science at the University of Cambridge.

Table of Contents

Foreword vii

Preface ix

Acknowledgements xiii

Lesson 1 From the Roman Empire to the Rebirth of Public Powers in Europe 1

The World becomes Roman 2

New Rome, Constantinople, and a New Europe 4

The New Religion, the Roman Empire and Europe 5

Charlemagne, Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, Constantinople 8

The Late Roman Empire and the Concept of Suite 11

Concluding Remarks 15

Lesson 2 Public Administration 17

Jus Politiae 17

Public Administration and Public Law 20

Public Administration and Fiskus 26

The Development of a Public Administration in England 28

Public Administration of States and other 'Public' or 'Private' Administrations 29

The Divide between Public Law and Private Law 32

Lesson 3 The 'Modern' State and its Foundations: The Rule of Law 36

The French Revolution of 1789 and the Rule of Law 37

The Ideas of AV Dicey, the Rule of Law and the Principle of Legality 39

The Rule of Law or Principle of Legality in Modern Times 48

Lesson 4 The Concept of the 'Modern' State 52

The French Concept of State 53

The German Concept of State 55

Lesson 5 From Decentralization to Devolution 60

Decentralization 60

Selbstverwaltung 63

From Federalism to Regionalism 65

Devolution 67

Lesson 6 The 'Modern' State: From the One-class State to the Multi-class State and its Evolution 68

The One-class State of the Nineteenth Century 68

Towards the Multi-class State 75

The Multi-class State 76

The Fascist State 78

The State of the Bolshevik Revolution 81

The Second World War and the Multi-class State 83

Democratic State, State of Law, Social State 85

The Classless State? 86

Lesson 7 The 'Modern' State Integrating in the International Community 87

A Fragmented and Simultaneously Integrated International Environment 88

The Reaction of the State, Crises, Reforms and the Gradual Constellation of Multi-level Public Power, both Nationally and Internationally 93

The Dilution of the States in the international Environment and the Rule of Law 96

Conclusions 99

Index 101

Editorial Reviews

"The book is a delightful read, expertly covering more than two thousand years of the law of public administration." --Journal of Comparative Law

From the Publisher