The Multi-interpretable Nature of Lawfulness in a National Framework

This chapter explores lawfulness in the Italian context, where it is a ‘fluid’ value. Despite the Italian constitution providing a rigid foundation for public administration, a level of flexibility is found within the processes of governance exercised by both the executive and legislature. In effect, the instruments of state comply with the general principles in place as well as the rules in force. This allows at least three different conceptions of lawfulness, depending on how strongly the rules are able to influence the structure and content of the administrative measures. An element of complexity characterizes the relationship between lawfulness and the corollaries of the principle of good administration; the possible existence of discretionary power is also important from the point of view of judicial review. The increasingly close link between public and private law and the introduction of ‘new’ sources of law are the last (but not least) pieces of a kaleidoscopic puzzle.