The impact of legal procedures on public administration runs closely in parallel with the impact of legal rules. We can distinguish between legal proceedings brought by public authorities and those brought against them. An authority’s power to bring enforcement proceedings may (as noted above) be used rarely, and when used it may be counter-productive if the court imposes low penalty or none at all. Nevertheless, it will have a significant impact on negotiations between the authority and potential offenders. Awareness of the possibility of a prosecution and uncertainty about the result affects the balance o power between the authority and a p0iE[lil3loffender when they negotiate with each other. The threat of legal proceedings is, perhaps, more powerful than their deployment in controlling breaches of legal rules.