Abstract:
There is no doubt that public administrators in their pursuit of efficient public
service delivery to the citizens need knowledge of law. Lawyers too need to
understand the workings of administrative systems as law is practised in such
systems. This position was highly recognised in ancient and classical discourses
of public administration and by scholars who formulated the concept of the
state and the importance of law in society. Lawyers practise their profession
in a public administration context and as such their understanding of how the
public sector operates in terms of laws made, the implementation of the laws
and the judicial functioning are matters that need not much emphasis. While
classical literature of law and public administration recognised the intimate
relationship between the two, modern scholarship tends to favour an independent
disciplinary focus. Whereas societies have evolved through different
stages, each of these stages has had rules for managing the needs and expectations
of the citizens. Public administration and law are practised in the three
branches of government – executive, legislature and judiciary. Lawyers go to
law schools while public administrators go to schools of public administration
or public policy. The central question addressed by this article is whether
there is a renewed need for the teachers of law and public administration to
appreciate and apply the synergy between the two disciplines.
