What has been missing in the literature on Ernst Forsthoff, one of the key teachers of constitutional and administrative law in the post-war period, is a comprehensive assessment of his administrative law work from a critical distance. Christian Schütte attempts to fill this gap. In the first part, the author elaborates on Forsthoff's understanding of the state and constitution, which forms the basis of his administrative law considerations. The second part is dedicated to administration and its law from Forsthoff's perspective. In four steps, starting from Forsthoff's depiction of the tasks of administration, the author discusses Forsthoff's administrative law method and its legal formulation. Schütte then returns to the tasks of administration in Forsthoff's later work. The author's reflections culminate in two central theses: While Forsthoff's understanding of the state and constitution is characterized by a...