「自治」一詞除了在地方自治領域外，在個別的行政法領域十分常見，相同的概念亦稱為自律或自我行政。自治，顧名思義，係就自身的事務，以主要由自己負責的方式，來自行管理。在德國，自治行政在各個生活領域皆有長久之傳統並受高度之肯定，諸如地方政府、經濟、職業、社會保險及學術等部門，皆有關於自治行政之討論，由自治理念所建立的組織包括了鄉鎮、大學、社會保險機構、工商會、手工業公會、律師公會、廣播電視台、水利會等，不過在公法學對於自治一詞並沒有一致性的理解或精確的定義，大部分皆著墨於行政法各論領域的討論。部分論點強調自治的團體屬性，本文則由自治的古典意義及發展而著重於自治的參與特徵，並嘗試作適當的定義。自治制度係歷史發展下的產物，並以地方自治發展最為完備現，而今則已逐漸分流為地方自治及功能自治兩大類。功能自治除了具有參與公共事務的目的外，並具有減輕政府負擔之功能。本文就德國自治制度發展的歷史與環境背景作一回顧後，先對該制度有明確的認知前提下，進而由法律觀點探討自治相關的公法學問題。

In addition to local self-government, the concept of self-government has been applied in various categories of the administrative laws, but in different terms such as autonomy and self-regulation (Selbstverwaltung in German). In its appearance of the meaning, self-government means governance of self matters under self responsibility. In Germany, self-government (Selbstverwaltung) has a well-established tradition and is highly recognized in many social fields, including local government, business, vocation, social insurance, and university, and organized as municipal cities, universities, social insurance institute, industrial and commercial chambers, craftsman associations, bar associations, broadcast stations, and irrigation associations etc. Although self-government is very common existing in specific administrative laws, it has not been properly defined by public law. Some emphasize the character of self-government as a group of members; however, this article argues that participation would be the core element of self-government, which refers to the classical definition of self-government. As developed in history, self-government has evolved into two major categories: local self-government (kommunale Selbstverwaltung) and functional self-government (funktionale Selbstverwaltung). Functional self-government has emerged out of the premonitory concept of local self-government as another type of self-government in an area other than local government, which is able to contribute to the participation in public administration and to decrease the government’s affordability. In addition to the discussion of the German system of self-government, this article explores the essence, development, and related issues of self-government from the perspective of public law.