a short comment on the history of administrative law and michael stolleis general part, and one of his contributions was to create a link between the concept of Verwaltungsakt, and the Swedishmyndighetsutövning – ‘exercise of public power’. He introduced the term as early as the 1930s; it was used for the first time in an official report by a legislative and investigating commission (SOU) in 1964.12 Later it became a fundamental, and controversial, concept in Swedish public law, including the Constitution. As to appeal, in contrast to Sundberg, Herlitz long relied on the administrative authorities themselves, not the courts, since he thought these authorities were well rooted in the Swedish soul. However, over the course of time, around 1940, Herlitz changed position and abandoned his confidence in the Swedish tradition. There were three reasons why. The Third Reich; a new Book of Judicial Procedure; and the expansion of the Swedish welfare state. Herlitz had an extensive international network which spanned the Nordic countries, the rest of Europe, the US, and elsewhere. The New Deal administration was interested in the Swedish Model of folkhemmet (lit. the people’s home), and invited Herlitz to give lectures at many universities across the US. His writings were rich in references to foreign authors. Like Sundberg, he noted the internationalization of law and its significance to the rapid transformation of Swedish society. However, ever since his youth Herlitz had serious concerns about the ‘threat from the East’, and he sought close contacts with Germany, which was common among Swedish university graduates. This relationship was put to the test after Machtübernahme in 1933, under the Nazi regime and in the Second World War. Although Herlitz maintained his contacts, he clearly indicated both in his personal correspondence with German colleagues who espoused Nazism and publicly in the Swedish debate his aversion to any form of antisemitism and totalitarian tendencies. The Third Reich was a direct cause of Herlitz’s change of heart. He had corresponded with Edgar Tatarin-Tarnheyden, who was professor in Rostock and joined the Nazi movement early – Stolleis has commented 12 SOU1964:27 Lag om förvaltningsförfarandet: Besvärssakkunnigas slutbetänkande; Kumlien 2019, 23–4, 75–6, 212. 183
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