The Conception of the Principle of Legitimate Expectations and the Models of the Protection of Legitimate Expectations in the European Administrative Space

Abstract

The article analyses the conception of legitimate expectations, also the genesis and development of this principle and its relations with other principles of administrative law. The article consists of the introduction, four main parts and conclusions. In the first part of the article the conception and the development of the principle of legitimate expectations is discussed. The principle of legitimate expectations originates from the German public law and is known as the principle of "Vertrauensschutz". In the period between 1970 and 1980 years the Court of Justice of the European Communities began to apply this principle in its legal practice. The principle of legitimate expectations protects the interests of the persons, who are entitled by legal system to expect certain results, in case they act legally. The second part of the article reveals the links of the principle of legitimate expectations with other fundamental principles: the principle of the rule of law, the principle of proportionality, the principle of the legal certainty. The problems, which occur harmonizing the principle of the protection of legal expectations and the principle of nondiscrimination, are revealed. The third part of the article presents the development of the doctrine of the principle of the legitimate expectations in the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Communities. The selection of situations, when the expectations of a person are considered legitimate and justifiable, is made. Also the circumstances, which can influence the rise of legitimate expectations, are indicated. The situations, when the expectations of a person are not acknowledged as legitimate, are presented. The fourth part of the article discusses the models of the protection of legitimate expectations, they are: procedural protection of legitimate expectations; substantive protection of legitimate expectations; compensatory protection of legitimate expectations.