Other than the normally adopted perspective of the efficiency of resources allocation, the author, by resorting to the legal analytical methodology, approaches the substance of administ rative license from the perspective of individual f reedom and explicates the legal nature of license in private law and administ rative license in public law in terms of operative facts. So the administ rative license should be defined as the operative factscreating individual f reedom and property rightsthrough the administ rative process. The rationality and limit of administ rative licensing power lie where the balance of individual freedom and public interest exists. However, the author fully realizes the uncertainty of the concept of public interest and the"sheep skin"use of it, therefore the pursuit of substantive rationality of governance is unreliable, and more weight should be given to the const ruction of procedural institutions and the protection of procedural rights. |