German Administrative Law: In Common Law Perspective

It is with the greatest pleasure that I add a few introductory remarks to the book of Dr. Mahendra Pal Singh on German administrative law. Between 1981 and 1982 Dr. Singh spent nearly two years in Heidelberg, doing re- search partly at the South Asia Institute of the Ruprecht Karl University and partly at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law.

During his stay in the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Singh studied the general principles of German administrative law in a careful and admirable manner, and he has now completed the present book which is based on his studies in Heidelberg.

For several reasons Dr. Singh is especially qualified to write this book: His famil- iarity with the administrative law of his home country has enabled him to look upon the German law with considerable objectivity; his knowledge of the German lan- guage gave him access to the vast amount of German literature and court decisions; and Dr. Singh was able to penetrate this material with a searching and scholarly spirit.

The final product seems to be the first comprehensive treatise in English on German administrative law.