Controllo di legittimità e tutela del cittadino nella giurisprudenza dei primi venti anni della IV sezione del Consiglio di Stato (1890-1910)

This study has been carried out in accordance with a precise methodology: it examines the decisions handed down by the Fourth Chamber of the Coun-cil of State in its first twenty years of operation on the issue of excess of power. We could propose an interpretation of excess of power whereby its substance is not to be found in the concept itself, but rather in the explanations provided by the organ that created it as it examines each individual case. Thus, excess of power cannot be pinned down to one single concept, nor should the con-tinuity among its various manifestations be understood conceptually; rather it must be examined from a historical perspective on a case-by-case basis. It is there that we can see how excess of power has characterized the work of the Council of State more than any other issue over the course of its existence.