Kenneth Culp Davis (December 19, 1908 – August 30, 2003) was an American legal scholar remembered as "the father of administrative law.
[1][5] He is also known for his 1969 monograph Discretionary Justice and its 1976 follow-up Police Discretion, in which he argued that more legal restrictions should be placed on administrators in their ability to develop policies.
[7] Earl W. Kintner, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, heralded the work in a contemporary review as "...one of the truly monumental events of this generation of legal writing.
[3] He is remembered as "one of the twentieth century's outstanding authorities on administrative law",[5] although his influence was recognized well before his death.
Contemporary reviewers refer to his intellectual "stature"[8] and praise his "vivid opinions, his exuberant delight with effective innovation"[9] In 1987, the Los Angeles Times described him as "a lion of jurisprudence, a scholar whose seminal thinking about law and how it is created have made him well-known in the nation's law schools and courthouses.
"[13] Following his death, Bill Funk, chairman of the ABA Admin Law section said "Davis’ shadow falls over virtually all that administrative lawyers do,[...] To say he was a giant in his field is like saying Mt.