Question

"Administrative law is the law concerning the powers and procedures of administrative agencies, including especially the law governing judicial review of administrative action." This definition was given by:

• A. H.W.R. Wade
• B. A.V. Dicey
• C. K.C. Davis
• D. Ivor Jennings

Hint:

For jurisprudential definitions:

• Dicey = Rule of Law

• Wade = Modern Administrative Law

• Jennings = Administration and Government

• K.C. Davis = Administrative Agencies + Judicial Review

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

A quick way to narrow this down is to separate the jurists by which legal tradition their work belongs to, since the quoted definition has a distinctly functional, American flavour.

1. A.V. Dicey and H.W.R. Wade: Both are British scholars writing within the English constitutional tradition. Dicey's contribution is the Rule of Law and his scepticism toward a separate administrative law; Wade's is a detailed account of English judicial review doctrines. Neither frames the subject primarily as agency powers plus judicial review in the compact, functional style of the quoted line.
2. Ivor Jennings: Jennings also belongs to the British tradition and described administrative law broadly as law relating to public administration, but again this is not phrased around agencies and judicial review specifically.
3. K.C. Davis: Davis was an American jurist, and American administrative law scholarship in his era was heavily centred on regulatory agencies and the courts' power to review their decisions. The quoted definition's focus on "administrative agencies" and "judicial review of administrative action" is a hallmark of that American functional approach, and it is precisely Davis's definition.

Since the definition's structure fits the American, agency-and-review-centred tradition rather than the British constitutional tradition, it belongs to K.C. Davis.

Answer 2

A precise way to answer this is to isolate the exact keywords in the quoted definition, namely "administrative agencies" and "judicial review of administrative action," and see whose known writing uses that specific vocabulary.

1. H.W.R. Wade: Wade's writing is usually framed around doctrines like ultra vires, natural justice, and the grounds of judicial review in England, rather than around "agencies" as a category, since England traditionally used the language of tribunals, departments, and public authorities.
2. A.V. Dicey: Dicey's key vocabulary is "Rule of Law," "ordinary courts," and "droit administratif" (used to contrast with, not define, English administrative law), none of which match the quoted phrasing.
3. K.C. Davis: The term "administrative agencies" is characteristic terminology from American administrative law, where Davis wrote his influential treatise. He explicitly framed the field as covering agency powers, agency procedures, and judicial review of agency action, which lines up word-for-word with the structure of the quoted sentence.
4. Ivor Jennings: Jennings's own phrase for the subject is closer to "the law relating to the administration," a broader and more institutional description that does not single out judicial review as its "especially" emphasised feature the way the quoted definition does.

Since the vocabulary and structure of the quotation match Davis's characteristic phrasing most closely, the jurist being described is K.C. Davis.