导论当国会于1946年颁布《行政程序法》(APA)时,对行政机构的不同种类规则作了区分。最重要的是对立法性规则和解释性规则的区分。大多数情况下,一个行政机构只有使用了行政程序法第553条规定的通告评论程序,才能颁布立法性规则。相反,行政机构能在任何时候颁布解释性规则,而不需经过通告评论程序。五十多年来,法院和评论者都在努力确定和适用适宜的区分立法性规则和解释性规则的标准。但结果并不令人愉悦。法院提 Introduction When the Congress enacted the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in 1946, it distinguished between different types of rules in the executive branch. The most important is the distinction between legislative and interpretive rules. In most cases, an administrative body can enact legislative rules only through the use of the notice comment procedure prescribed in article 553 of the Administrative Procedure Law. On the contrary, the executive authorities can issue interpretative rules at any time without going through the notice comment process. For over fifty years, courts and commentators have worked hard to establish and apply appropriate criteria for distinguishing between legislative and interpretative rules. But the result is not pleasing. Court mention