We, and our predecessors, however, have sustained delegations of legislative power to administrative officials, boards and commissions involving comparable guides and standards or even those less restrictive. See, e.g., McBriety v. Baltimore City, 219 Md. 223, 238, 148 A.2d 408, 418 (1959) [rules and regulations "proper and necessary" to enforce multiple-family dwelling ordinance for protection of the public interest]; Givner v. Commissioner of Health of Baltimore City, 207 Md. 184, 191-92, 113 A.2d 899, 902 (1955) [rules and regulations "necessary and proper" for the enforcement of the health ordinance], citing with approval Petrushansky v. State, 182 Md. 164, 32 A.2d 696 (1943) ["maintain the premises in clean condition"]; Schneider v. Pullen, 198 Md. 64, 81 A.2d 226 (1951) [Private trade schools must obtain certificates of approval by the State Superintendent of Schools where the conditions of entrance, scholarship, educational qualifications, standards and facilities "were adequate and appropriate" for the purposes, program, training and courses to be taught.]. In Givner, we said in regard to our prior decisions:

There are general statements in past opinions of this Court, which taken apart from the actual decisions involved, appear to support the claim that even though there be an administrative remedy, a court of equity may intervene and act when a constitutional question is involved. See Schneider v. Pullen, 198 Md. 64, 68, 81 A.2d 226 (1951); Kracke v. Weinberg, 197 Md. 339, 343, 79 A.2d 387 (1951). The law on the matter was made clear in Poe. It declared that where there is full opportunity for a property owner to protest an assessment to administrative agencies and adequate provisions for judicial review of the agencies' action, a court shall not take jurisdiction unless the administrative remedies have been exhausted.

"The Legislature cannot, of course, interfere with the judicial process by depriving litigants from raising questions involving their fundamental rights in any appropriate judicial manner, nor can it deprive the courts of the right to decide such questions in an appropriate proceeding." Schneider v. Pullen, 198 Md. 64, 68, 81 A.2d 226, 228 (1951). Notwithstanding the clear expressed intention by Art. 26A, § 10 (a) to exempt the decisions and actions of the Board from judicial review, under Art. 41, § 255(a), this Court, in a long line of cases, has consistently held that the Legislature cannot divest the courts of the inherent power they possess to review and correct actions by an administrative agency which are arbitrary, illegal, capricious or unreasonable.

Thus, it is conceded by Smith that the constitutional attack is not upon the validity of the legislation as enacted, but upon the application of the general statutory plan to a particular situation. The Department points to Chertkof Trust v. Department of Natural Resources, 265 Md. 291, 289 A.2d 314 (1972); Poe v. Baltimore City, 241 Md. 303, 216 A.2d 707 (1966); and Schneider v. Pullen, 198 Md. 64, 81 A.2d 226 (1951), and urges that before Smith can be heard in an attack upon the validity of the statutory plan as applied to its situation, it must first exhaust its administrative remedies by applying for a permit. We agree, notwithstanding Smith's contention that it did not commence the litigation and that it "cannot be premature in a suit that [it] did not institute, any more than the State can complain about prematurity in the action it did commence."

It is well established that a claimant ordinarily must seek to redress the wrong of which he complains by using the statutory procedure the legislature has established for that kind of case, if it is adequate and available, and that if he is unsuccessful and wishes aid from the courts, he must take judicial appeals in the manner the legislature has specified rather than by seeking to invoke the ordinary general jurisdiction of the courts. Lee v. Sec. of State Mahoney, 251 Md. 134, 139; Albert v. Public Service Commission of Maryland, 209 Md. 27; Schneider v. Pullen, 198 Md. 64, 68 ("We have consistently held that where a special form of remedy is provided, the litigant must adopt that form and must not by-pass the administrative body or official, by pursuing other remedies."). The established rule has been followed in zoning cases.

"In support of their argument, the appellants cite general statements from some of this Court's prior opinions which, taken apart from the actual decisions involved, tend to support their contention. For example, in Schneider v. Pullen, 198 Md. 64, 68, 81 A.2d 226 (1951), Chief Judge Marbury, for the Court, said: 'We have, however, been careful to point out that where constitutional questions are involved, the litigant has the right to raise them in a court of equity, and such court has the right to consider them,' and in Kracke v. Weinberg, 197 Md. 339, 343, 79 A.2d 387 (1951), Chief Judge Marbury said, for the Court: 'It has been, of course, well settled that where a constitutional question is involved, equity may intervene and enjoin action by an administrative body, although this is not favored where there are statutory remedies which permit the raising of such a question.'

It is interesting to note that the General Assembly of Maryland in the Acts of 1947, Chapter 489, Code (1957), Article 77, § 25, required all private schools or educational institutions, "except those operated by bona fide church organizations" to obtain a certificate of approval from the State Superintendent of Schools of Maryland before they could begin or continue to operate in Maryland, thus making a similar (but perhaps broader) type of classification as is involved in the case at bar. Our predecessors in Schneider v. Pullen, 198 Md. 64, 81 A.2d 226 (1951) sustained the constitutionality of the guides and standards set forth in the act for the guidance of the State Superintendent in issuing the certificates of approval, but did not specifically consider the portion of the statute above quoted. We agree with the appellants that the mere fact that a private school may operate for profit while a parochial school generally does not, would not be, in itself, a sufficient distinction to justify a different treatment by the legislative body. There may well be private schools which are not parochial within the meaning of the ordinance, and which operate on a non-profit basis, but which may also be required to obtain a special exception under the Montgomery County Zoning Ordinance.

We have accordingly held that where a special form of remedy is provided by statute, the litigant should resort to that form rather than pursue other remedies, although where a constitutional issue is raised, and there is no danger of by-passing administrative action, the question may properly be decided in a suit for injunction or declaratory decree before the time has arrived for invoking the statutory remedy. Kahl v. Consolidated Gas, Electric Light Power Co., 191 Md. 249, 258, 60 A.2d 754; Commissioners of Cambridge v. Eastern Shore Public Service Co., 192 Md. 333, 64 A.2d 151; Francis v. MacGill, 196 Md. 77, 75 A.2d 91; Kracke v. Weinberg, 198 Md. 339, 79 A.2d 387; Schneider v. Pullen, 198 Md. 64, 81 A.2d 226; Reiling v. State Comptroller, 201 Md. 384, 94 A.2d 261. The Retail Sales Tax Act and the Use Tax Act provide that any taxpayer may apply to the Comptroller for revision of the tax assessed against him, and the Comptroller shall act promptly upon the application and notify the taxpayer of his action.

S. Easton Neighborhood Ass'n, Inc. v. Town of Easton, Md., 387 Md. 468, 477, 876 A.2d 58 (2005) (citing Bd. of Educ. v. Sec'y of Pers., 317 Md. 34, 44, 562 A.2d 700 (1989) [hereinafter “Easton ”]; Dep't of Natural Res. v. Linchester Sand & Gravel Corp., 274 Md. 211, 223, 334 A.2d 514 (1975)). In Criminal Injuries Comp. Bd. v. Gould, 273 Md. 486, 500, 331 A.2d 55 (1975) (quoting Schneider v. Pullen, 198 Md. 64, 68, 81 A.2d 226 (1951)), the Court of Appeals explained: “The Legislature cannot, of course, interfere with the judicial process by depriving litigants from raising questions involving their fundamental rights in any appropriate judicial manner, nor can it deprive the courts of the right to decide such questions in an appropriate proceeding.” The courts have been alert to exercise their residual power to restrain improper exercises of administrative powers whether judicial or legislative in nature.

By the same token, the legislature cannot "interfere with the judicial process by depriving litigants from raising questions involving their fundamental rights in any appropriate judicial manner, nor can it deprive the courts of the right to decide such questions in an appropriate proceeding." Id., at 500, 331 A.2d 55 (quoting Schneider v. Pullen, 198 Md. 64, 68, 81 A.2d 226 (1951)). It is well recognized that courts cannot be divested of their inherent power to review actions of administrative agencies that are arbitrary, capricious or illegal. Gould, 273 Md. at 502, 331 A.2d 55; see also Hecht v. Crook, 184 Md. 271, 280, 40 A.2d 673 (1945).