Desviación de poder y prevaricación administrativa: diferencias y entrecruzamientos

Abstract

The Spanish laws on administrative procedures depart from a clear-cut distinction between misuse of power and administrative malfeasance for what regards the invalidity of administrative acts. Notwithstanding this, the case-law shows usual and important interferences and overlaps between the two categories, which results sometimes in blatant contradictions between the decisions of the administrative and the criminal courts. This article first explores this problem and then proceeds to sketch some proposals to solve it.