Conference on global administrative law opens

Not even a power outage and stifling heat detracted from the opening of the Global Administrative Law Conference by the Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, yesterday.

Hosted in the Oliver Tambo Moot Court, the conference is a joint venture between UCT's law faculty and the School of Law at New York University (NYU).

Global administrative law is a significant emerging field of law and practice that synthesises traditional international and administrative law disciplines.

Though in its nascent stage, global administrative law is what Manuel described as "in desperate need of development and recognition".

NYU's Project on Global Administrative Law studies this new field through research, conferences, and publications.

"Global administrative law is an idea whose time has come," Manuel said.

"It is a branch of law whose development will facilitate both the construction of the institutions and arrangements that are required for sufficient legitimacy of the systems of global co-operation, and the emergence of a practical sense of democratic participation, which is the minimum requirement for public consent to the unfolding globalisation."