Quiz: Administrative Law and Public Services — 24 questions

1. What did Article 13 of the law of 16–24 August 1790 prohibit judicial courts from doing?

A. Reviewing contracts between private parties

B. Deciding disputes involving the administration

C. Judging criminal offenses by public officials

D. Issuing regulations for public services

Answer: (B)

Explanation

Article 13 barred judicial courts from deciding disputes involving the administration, establishing an initial separation between judicial and administrative matters. The later Fructidor decree did not initiate this separation; it reaffirmed it after judicial resistance.

2. How were administrative disputes initially handled under the revolutionary solution to jurisdictional separation?

A. The administration judged its own actions

B. The legislature decided each administrative conflict

C. Judicial courts reviewed administrative decisions

D. Private arbitrators resolved disputes with officials

Answer: (A)

Explanation

The initial revolutionary arrangement entrusted administrative disputes to the administration itself, so the administration effectively judged its own conduct. This differed from assigning such disputes to ordinary judicial courts.

3. What legal development was established by the Tribunal des conflits judgment Blanco of 8 February 1873?

A. State liability for public-service damage followed special rules

B. Administrative disputes became matters for private arbitration

C. Public-service employees received immunity from all liability

D. State liability for public-service damage followed the Civil Code

Answer: (A)

Explanation

Blanco held that liability for damage caused by persons employed in a public service was governed by special rules rather than the Civil Code rules for private relationships. The Civil Code framework instead characterizes private-law liability.

4. Which change in state liability is associated with the Blanco judgment?

A. It restored State irresponsibility and expanded private-law control

B. It made administrative liability identical to private contractual liability

C. It transferred public-service liability entirely to criminal courts

D. It ended State irresponsibility and supported administrative-law autonomy

Answer: (D)

Explanation

Blanco ended the principle of State irresponsibility and affirmed that administrative law could operate independently from the Civil Code. Treating administrative liability as identical to private contractual liability would contradict that autonomy.

5. If a dispute is governed by private law, which court would normally have jurisdiction under the principle that jurisdiction follows the applicable law?

A. The administrative judge

B. The Tribunal des conflits

C. The judicial judge

D. The legislative authority

Answer: (C)

Explanation

The principle connects private law with the judicial judge, while administrative law normally leads to the administrative judge. The Tribunal des conflits is not the ordinary destination for every private-law dispute.

6. Why is the organic criterion insufficient for identifying administrative law?

A. A public body is governed by criminal law, and a private person is governed by constitutional law

B. A public body cannot issue legal acts, and a private person cannot perform public functions

C. A public body may act under private law, and a private person may manage a public service

D. A public body acts through courts, and a private person acts through legislators

Answer: (C)

Explanation

The organic criterion focuses on the identity of the body issuing an act, but that identity does not determine the applicable law in every case. Public bodies can act under private law, while private persons may manage public services.

7. A public authority manages a public service using its public powers, while a government body enters an ordinary private transaction; which legal frameworks generally correspond to these actions?

A. Administrative law for the first and private law for the second

B. Private law for the first and administrative law for the second

C. Criminal law for the first and constitutional law for the second

D. Contract law for the first and tort law for the second

Answer: (A)

Explanation

Action as a public authority generally attracts administrative law and the administrative judge, whereas action as a private person generally attracts private law and the judicial judge. The relevant classification depends on the nature of the activity, not merely the actor’s identity.

8. What do exorbitant powers enable an administration to do?

A. Award compensation whenever a private dispute involves public authorities

B. Negotiate obligations after obtaining consent from every affected person

C. Impose obligations without necessarily obtaining consent or prior judicial authorization

D. Replace statutory rules with private agreements approved by a judge

Answer: (C)

Explanation

Exorbitant powers allow the administration to impose its will without necessarily securing consent or prior authorization from a judge. Ordinary private powers generally depend more heavily on consent or authorization, so the second option describes the contrasting model.

9. Why must the administration exercise exorbitant powers in the general interest?

A. The general interest transfers administrative disputes to private courts

B. The general interest both justifies and limits the use of those powers

C. The general interest removes the need for legal review of administrative action

D. The general interest allows officials to pursue institutional convenience

Answer: (B)

Explanation

The general interest provides the justification for exceptional administrative powers while also restricting their use. It does not eliminate judicial review or authorize action based merely on administrative convenience.

10. Which remedy primarily asks whether an administrative act is legal or illegal and seeks its annulment?

A. An action seeking damages under full jurisdiction

B. A request for legislative approval of the administrative act

C. A private contractual claim against a public body

D. An action for annulment for excess of power

Answer: (D)

Explanation

An action for annulment for excess of power focuses on the legality of an administrative act and primarily seeks annulment. Full jurisdiction is broader because it can also permit the judge to award damages.

11. Which activity best illustrates the administration’s service-provision function?

A. Reviewing whether an administrative act violates the law

B. Imposing an obligation without seeking the user’s agreement

C. Awarding damages for harm caused by a public authority

D. Supplying users with water and childcare services

Answer: (D)

Explanation

The service-provision function consists of supplying goods and services to users, including water and childcare. Judicial review and compensation concern legal remedies rather than the direct provision of services.

12. How did the Bordeaux school characterize the role of public service in administrative law?

A. It treated public service as a remedy limited to awarding compensation

B. It treated public service as an institution unrelated to administrative law

C. It treated public service as a private-law activity without legal significance

D. It treated public service as the criterion for applying administrative law

Answer: (D)

Explanation

The Bordeaux school regarded public service as the criterion for determining when administrative law applied. Later developments challenged whether public service alone was sufficient, but that was not the school’s original position.

13. What did the Bac d’Eloka judgment recognize about some public services?

A. Some public services operate like private enterprises and fall under private law

B. Public services cannot engage in activities resembling private enterprise

C. Public services are identified solely by their contribution to general interest

D. Public services must be operated by public persons under administrative law

Answer: (A)

Explanation

Bac d’Eloka recognized that certain public services function like private enterprises and may therefore be governed by private law. This finding qualified the idea that every public service was subject to the same administrative legal regime.

14. Which combination captures the defining elements of a public service?

A. An activity of general interest ensured or assumed by a public person

B. A government decision adopted without reference to collective needs

C. A private activity pursued for profit without public involvement

D. A judicial proceeding involving a public authority and a private party

Answer: (A)

Explanation

A public service is an activity serving the general interest that is ensured or assumed by a public person. A private activity without public involvement does not automatically meet this definition.

15. Which statement correctly distinguishes the two criteria used to identify a public service?

A. General interest concerns procedure, while public involvement concerns damages

B. General interest concerns jurisdiction, while public involvement concerns consent

C. General interest is organic, while public involvement is material

D. General interest is material, while public involvement is organic

Answer: (D)

Explanation

The material criterion concerns the substance or purpose of the activity, namely its general-interest character. The organic criterion concerns the public person’s role in ensuring or assuming the activity.

16. An activity serving the general interest is managed by a private person. What follows from this arrangement?

A. General interest is necessary but insufficient to establish a public service

B. General interest automatically establishes a public service despite private management

C. Private management transforms the activity into a judicial remedy

D. General interest is irrelevant because private management excludes public service

Answer: (A)

Explanation

When a private person manages the activity, general interest alone does not establish a public service; public involvement must also be demonstrated. By contrast, general interest is sufficient when the activity is managed by a public person.

17. What distinguishes an activity that is “assured” from one that is “assumed” by a public person?

A. Assurance concerns economic services, whereas assumption concerns sovereign services

B. Assurance requires public-power prerogatives, whereas assumption requires competitive market activity

C. Assurance involves direct public management, whereas assumption involves delegated private management under public control

D. Assurance involves private management, whereas assumption involves direct management by a public person

Answer: (C)

Explanation

An activity is assured when a public person manages it directly, while it is assumed when management is delegated to a private person under public control. The private-management description therefore applies to assumption rather than assurance.

18. Which characteristic defines a public-power prerogative?

A. It is a power reserved for public persons and unavailable to private persons

B. It is a managerial power shared equally by public and private organizations

C. It is a market-based power arising from competition between service providers

D. It is a contractual power that private operators may exercise under commercial law

Answer: (A)

Explanation

A public-power prerogative is a power that a private person cannot possess and that may be used only by a public person. A contractual or managerial power is not reserved by definition to public persons.

19. Under the Narcy judgment, which combination initially allowed a private person to be regarded as managing a public service?

A. Public ownership, judicial supervision, and contractual delegation

B. Private financing, commercial profit, and market competition

C. General interest, public control, and public-power prerogatives

D. Statutory status, affordable tariffs, and standardized quality

Answer: (C)

Explanation

Narcy required the activity to serve the general interest, to be controlled by a public person, and to involve public-power prerogatives. Commercial profit and market competition do not constitute the three Narcy criteria.

20. How did the APREI judgment broaden the ways a private person could be recognized as managing a public service?

A. It accepted statutory qualification, the Narcy criteria, or indicators of public control without public-power prerogatives

B. It required public-power prerogatives and removed the relevance of statutory qualification

C. It classified every privately managed activity as a public service when it served consumers

D. It replaced public control with proof that the operator earned profits from the activity

Answer: (A)

Explanation

APREI recognized three possible routes: statutory qualification, satisfaction of the Narcy criteria, or a body of indicators showing public control even without public-power prerogatives. It therefore did not make public-power prerogatives indispensable in every case.

21. What distinguishes an economic service of general interest from a non-economic service of general interest?

A. An economic service is purely sovereign, whereas a non-economic service operates on a competitive market with public-service obligations

B. An economic service operates on a competitive market with public-service obligations, whereas a non-economic service is purely sovereign

C. An economic service is defined by private ownership, whereas a non-economic service is defined by public ownership

D. An economic service concerns postal services, whereas a non-economic service concerns telecommunications

Answer: (B)

Explanation

Economic services of general interest operate in markets under competition while remaining subject to public-service obligations. Non-economic services are sovereign activities outside competition, not market services defined by ownership.

22. Under the UsiA judgment, when does a public service become an SPIC rather than remaining an SPA?

A. When its users receive affordable tariffs and a standard level of quality

B. When its object, resources, and organization or operation resemble those of a private enterprise

C. When a public person directly manages it and exercises public-power prerogatives

D. When it provides a sovereign service outside competition and commercial activity

Answer: (B)

Explanation

A public service is presumed to be an SPA, but it becomes an SPIC when its object, resources, and organization or operation have private-enterprise characteristics. Affordable tariffs and standardized quality describe universal service rather than the SPA–SPIC test.

23. Which jurisdictional pairing generally follows from the distinction between an SPA and an SPIC?

A. Both services fall under the administrative judge because both serve the general interest

B. An SPA falls under the judicial judge, whereas an SPIC falls under the administrative judge

C. An SPA falls under the administrative judge, whereas an SPIC falls under the judicial judge

D. Both services fall under the judicial judge because both may involve private users

Answer: (C)

Explanation

SPAs are generally governed by administrative law and heard by the administrative judge, while SPICs are generally governed by private law and heard by the judicial judge. The general-interest purpose of both services does not erase this usual distinction.

24. Which exception was recognized for disputes involving an SPA managed by a private person?

A. Disputes over public accounts must be transferred to a commercial tribunal

B. Disputes over service users must fall under the constitutional judge

C. Disputes over unilateral administrative acts may fall under the judicial judge

D. Disputes over all service contracts must fall under the administrative judge

Answer: (C)

Explanation

The Magnier judgment recognized that disputes concerning unilateral administrative acts of an SPA managed by a private person may fall under the judicial judge. This is a specific exception to the usual administrative jurisdiction associated with an SPA.