[T]he rise of administrative law is essentially a re-emergence of the absolute power practiced by pre-modern kings. The constitutional history of the past thousand years in common law countries records the repeated ebb and flow of absolutism... [O]rdinarily kings bound their subjects through proclamations or decrees—or what we today call rules or regulations...dispensations and suspensions—or what we today call waivers...their prerogative courts—courts such as the King’s Council, the Star Chamber, and the High Commission—or what we today call administrative courts. [D]efenders of this sort of prerogative power were not squeamish about describing it as absolute power. Absolutism was their justification....