NEGATIVE DEFINITION AS A LIMIT TO ADMINISTRATIVE DISCRETION: THE CASE OF REGULATORY DECREE NO. 3/2021 – JUNE 25, 2021

Abstract

This contribution aims to show how the negative description used by normative authorities in the legal system can become a factor of discretion within the administrative function. Considering the relevance of linguistic issues in attributing discretion in normative statements, this paper reflects on the importance of this description as an internal limit on the granting of this margin of choice to the administrative agent. In order to achieve this goal, an exploratory study of excerpts extracted from the prototypical copy of the regulatory decree - Regulatory Decree no. 3/2021 - June 25, 2021, which deals with the legal status of the animal provider, is operated. Preliminary studies of linguistic description of the expressions used to characterize "in the negative" the animal welfare, one of the missions to be ensured by the "animal provider", demonstrate, from the propositional and argumentative point of view, the complexity of the inferential reasoning involved to "unveil" the concept of "animal welfare": linguistic expression central to the understanding of the normative enunciation. This exploratory study may also attest to the relevance of the description "in the negative" or "negative description" for granting a significant margin of choice for administrative agents when applying the norm to the concrete case.