摘要：Legal relations between the public administration and private persons arecharacterised by the higher‐level position of the administration which can impose itswill. This is why, one of the most important principles in the activity of publicadministration is the principle of legality, meaning that the whole activity isorganised and conducted by law. “The law” is in fact the legal norm. Identifying thelegal norm that is to be applied to a particular situation is not always easy, as inorder to achieve this goal the national legislation, the international conventions thatRomania has adhered to, the jurisprudence of the international courts that enforcethe international conventions, the European Union acts with direct effect at anational level have to be considered. Many times a control of the compliance of thelegal norm with the hierarchy of legal norms, or an interpretation of the legal normis needed. Who is entrusted with these tasks? What are the powers of the publicadministration in this area? How is the effectiveness of a legal norm determined bythe activity of the public administration? The paper considers these questions.
