ABSTRACT

The executive branch is often conceptualised as a hierarchy in which one official has ultimate authority to carry out the law. In American public law, this is referred to as the ‘unitary’ theory of the executive. That theory is often defended on democratic grounds. However, there are countervailing democratic reasons to give several officials equal authority to implement the law. First, such a condition of ‘official equality’ can remedy the imperfect information about citizens’ judgments any one official holds. Second, official equality respects the plurality of norms that a democratic legal system tends to generate. Third, it gives private persons reason to structure their own relationships on equal terms in ways that support the social foundations of democracy. Fourth, it exhibits the democratic virtues of legislative processes when the implementation of law requires action that is legislative in nature. These reasons together constitute the value of official equality. The value of official equality ought to impact the structures and practices of executive offices within the democratic state.

摘要

行政部门通常被概念化为等级制度，其中一名官员拥有执行法律的最终权力。在美国公法中，这被称为行政的“统一”理论。该理论经常以民主为由进行辩护。然而，给予几名官员平等执行法律的权力也有相反的民主理由。首先，这种“官员平等”的条件可以弥补任何官员所掌握的关于公民判断的不完全信息。其次，官方平等尊重民主法律制度倾向于产生的多种规范。第三，它使私人有理由以支持民主的社会基础的方式在平等的条件下构建他们自己的关系。第四，当法律的实施需要采取立法性质的行动时，它就体现了立法程序​​的民主美德。这些理由共同构成了官员平等的价值。官员平等的价值应该影响民主国家行政机关的结构和实践。