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Adjudication Adjudication is the term usually applied to the action of an administrative agency when that agency acts like a court. In an adjudication an agency applies general regulations or policies to a specific party or a small number of parties in a given situation. In the agency adjudication process, the functions of judge and jury are combined in a single entity-either an administrative law judge, a hearing officer, or some type of board-which both conducts a hearing and makes a decision. This decision is usually called an "initial decision." An "initial decision" may become a "final decision" automatically unless a party in the case appeals the decision to the agency head or designated agency official or appeals board, according to the agency's own procedures. The agency, on appeal, may affirm, reverse, or remand the initial decision, but must explain any departure from the initial decision. The agency's own procedures will be spelled out in procedural rules, which will usually be found in the Code of Federal Regulations. The final agency decision, sometimes called an "opinion," is usually in writing and will set out the reasons for that decision. It must be made available to the parties and indexed. A final decision in an adjudication is normally binding only on the named parties. Sometimes in making such a decision, an agency announces that the reasoning of that decision will be applied in future cases. Some agencies, most notably the National Labor Relations Board, have made most of their policy through case-by-case adjudication rather than through rulemaking.
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