To the public a law is something very positive and concrete. It is his authority. The term he customarily uses to describe it is "my mandate" It is "his" law, something he feels a proprietary interest in. It does three things: tells him what the legislature expects him to accomplish, fixes limits to his authority, and sets forth the substan tive and procedural rights of the individual and group. Having a positive view of his mandate, the administrator considers himself both aninterpreter and a builder. He is a builder because every time he applies old law to new situations he builds the law. Therefore law, like administration, is government in action.