a short comment on the history of administrative law and michael stolleis human rights.16 Some thirty years later, in 1971, his initiative and others resulted in the first Swedish Public Administration Act (Förvaltningslagen). It was definitely a step towards juridification. Did it reflect convergence? Yes. Was it predetermined? No. Was it adevelopment, of advantage to Swedish administrative law to codify the ‘general part’? As I understand it, most Swedish jurists consider it a move to greater legal security, the protection of citizens’ integrity, and a closer association to continental models. Are there different opinions? InHandwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte one can read an article about Verwaltungsrechtswissenschaft, which notes that the general part of German administrative law was codified in 1976. The author concludes that the codification was ‘letzlich wohl nicht zum Vorteil des Verwaltungsrechts’.17 So, what should we make of a codified general part? Beauty or a Beast? It is a suitable case for treatment as comparative legal history, which may help us to better understand our own system. ‘Wer fremde Sprache nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen.’ There is scope for broader questions, though. What is a general part? Is it codified law that everyone, even ‘non-lawyers’, can read and hopefully understand? Or is it general principles called down from on high by the oracles of the law, the judges and professors? How general is general – regional, national, supranational, or what? The nation-state no longer provides the exclusive context for administrative machinery. To conclude, the potential of legal history has expanded and become more complex, more important, more fascinating. But, I am sorry to say, it is Janus-faced, and that second side is all self-abasement and pessimism. 16 MFK1942:141 (private member’s bill in Parliament’s first chamber); Johan Hirschfeldt, ‘Juridik och politik: Svenska domstolar i ett förändrat landskap: Ett anförande i Riddarhuset vid invigningen avHögsta förvaltningsdomstolens lokaler den 24 maj 2012 om några utvecklingslinjer i förvaltningsrätten’, Förvaltningsrättslig tidskrift (2012), 295–301. 17 Michael Stolleis, ‘Verwaltungsrechtswissenschaft’, Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte (Berlin: Schmidt, 1998), v. 883–6. 185 Cheer up!
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