Evidence in the administrative procedure

Abstract

Administrative law is a branch of public law, perhaps, if history is anything to go by, one of the most recent branches of law. It appeared with the French Revolution of 1789, so it can be said that it is relatively new compared to civil or criminal law, thinking that they are the oldest, and that is why, perhaps, those who resolve disputes in administrative matters do so from a source of civil or criminal law. Administrative Law, being, as it is, a new matter, every day is firmly building its own theory, not without misunderstandings and confusions. That is why in administrative procedures, even in contentious administrative proceedings, the authority in charge of resolving the controversies between the Public Administration and the administered parties gets confused, and at the moment of deciding, when it appreciates the facts, summoning the testimonial, expert and documentary evidence, it does so from a civil or criminal perspective, when this is absolutely wrong, since each one of the matters has different legal interests to be resolved.  The facts between Private and Public Law are different, let's see it this way, in the civil process the plaintiff of justice asks for recognition and in criminal matters the true or false is sought. In Administrative Law, the Public Administration seeks to achieve the fulfillment of the public interest, of course, always respecting the rights of the administered.  It is for this reason that Administrative Law, by its nature, must understand the facts and interpret the evidence in a different way, of course, this does not mean that it is not very rigorous, but it does mean that the evidence must be evaluated from a different scenario, since we are not talking about protected private rights, but about the protected public interest.