Scandinavian system Archives - Othalafehu https://othalafehu.com A blog about the formation of the law, the Scandinavian legal system Tue, 19 Apr 2022 15:13:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9.3 https://othalafehu.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/cropped-logo-32x32.jpg Scandinavian system Archives - Othalafehu https://othalafehu.com 32 32 Historical development of the Scandinavian legal systems https://othalafehu.com/historical-development-2/ https://othalafehu.com/historical-development-2/#respond Tue, 19 Apr 2022 15:13:27 +0000 https://othalafehu.com/?p=158 The formation of law in the Scandinavian countries took place in an original way, largely independent of the factors operating in continental Europe.

The post Historical development of the Scandinavian legal systems appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
The formation of law in the Scandinavian countries took place in an original way, largely independent of the factors operating in continental Europe. The historical development of the Nordic countries was characterized by: the relative underdevelopment of the administrative hierarchy; the presence of free peasants; democratic forms of taking into account the interests of different strata of the population within the church parish, which led to compromise means of solving arising social conflicts; the constant adjustment of economic development to the conditions of patriarchal society. Consequently, in the Scandinavian countries a centralized state and unified law emerged early.
Beginning from XIII century in Sweden the legislation is consolidated. In the middle of XIV century two laws were issued, one regulating relations in the countryside and another one in cities. These acts were in force in Sweden for 400 years. During this time they were repeatedly changed and supplemented. An important role in the process of adapting these laws to the new conditions of public life was played by the courts.

In the 17th century Swedish judicial practice adopted many designs and principles of Roman law, copied in European countries, whereby those Roman elements became an integral part of Swedish law, of Swedish legal culture.

But we should not forget that the reception of the Roman law affected the Scandinavian countries insignificantly. And its main effect was to forge closer links with continental European law than with English law.

The close relationship between the Nordic legal systems can be explained by the fact that historically the Nordic countries have always had strong political, economic and cultural ties. It is true that the complete unification of the three kingdoms – Denmark, Norway and Sweden – was only temporary in nature.

It was formed as the Kalmar Union and existed from 1397 to 1523. But the connections between Sweden and Finland and between Denmark, Norway and Iceland were much stronger and survived for centuries.
In the tenth and sixteenth centuries Finland was conquered by Sweden and Iceland. Finland was conquered by Sweden and was part of the Swedish Empire until 1809, when Sweden was forced to cede Finland to Russia as a result of an unsuccessful war with Russia. The Russian state granted Finland considerable autonomy as an independent Grand Duchy, and the tsarist administration had little intervention in its legal system. Thus, when Finland separated from Russia after the October Revolution of 1917 and proclaimed its independence in 1918, its legal unity with Sweden was not considerably weakened.

Denmark, Norway and Iceland had been centrally ruled by the Danish royal family for more than four centuries, since the late fourteenth century, so that Danish law was essentially also in force in Norway and Iceland. In 1814. Denmark had to cede Norway’s territory to Sweden in 1814, but the Norwegians were able to gain a great deal of independence as part of the Swedish Empire and were granted full autonomy peacefully in 1906.

The general historical basis of Scandinavian law was Old German law. But of course each Nordic country developed its own local peculiarities. Since the 12th century the norms of Old German law were introduced in numerous land laws and later in city laws. Already from the first acts of the central government the process of unification and unification of law took place. In Sweden in the XIV century it was possible to unite the law of individual localities into a single land law and the law of nations into a single municipal law.

During the 17th-18th centuries the starting point of the formation of the Scandinavian legal systems were two legislative acts,

The first was the Code of King Christian V (“Danske Lov”), adopted in Denmark in 1683.

The second is the Swedish Code of Laws of 1734 (“Sveriges rikes lag”) (in 1687 it was extended to Norway under the name “Norske Lov”), and the second is the Swedish Code of Laws of 1734 (“Sveriges rikes lag”). (“Sveriges rikes lag”).
The Danish Code consists of the following sections:

1)on judicial proceedings;

2), on the church;

3) On secular estates, commerce, and family law;

4) on the law of the sea;

5) Law of property and inheritance;

6) criminal law.

The Swedish Code of 1734 has nine sections:

1) on marriage;

2) Parents and children;

3) Inheritance;

4) on real estate;

5) construction;

6) commerce;

7) on crimes (Criminal Code);

8) on the enforcement of judgments;

9) On judicial proceedings and the judicial system.

The code has 1300 paragraphs. Like the Danish Code, it was written in simple, clear vernacular language, and in the interest of greater specific regulation, it eschewed theoretical generalizations and instructive notions as they were introduced on the European continent in the 18th century by advocates of natural law.

It should be noted that the influence of Roman law on the Swedish Code of 1734 was insignificant. The authors of the Code turned to the traditions of the old Swedish land and town law. This can be seen in its structure, style, language, and in the absence of generalizing norms.

These two codes were the basis for the later development of both branches of Scandinavian law – Danish and Swedish. Of course, this development did not take place in isolation from continental Europe. But attempts to introduce law reforms which would structurally affect the existing system of law were made at certain stages (in the first half of the 19th century drafts for a general law similar to the French Civil Code were discussed), but they were unsuccessful.

It is unlikely that these acts could be considered as codes even at the time of their adoption. Rather, they should have been characterized as sets of existing legislation, since some parts of these legislative acts are not connected with each other in any way.

It is all the more impossible to recognize them as codes now that they include only a small part of the existing legislative provisions. And if the Swedish Act of 1734 does have a practical role – the role of a certain integrating factor of positive Swedish law, the Christian V Code has become a “museum piece,” although formally it is still in force.
The law of 1734, which is still in force today, practically does not include the provisions that were part of it at the time of its adoption. A number of sections have been completely overhauled: a new section on marriage was enacted in 1920; a section on litigation in 1948; in 1959 the revision of the old section on Inheritance resulted in the addition of a section by the same name, and even earlier, in 1949, the section on Parents, which had previously been missing, was removed from this section; in 1970 the section on Real Estate was completely updated. In the remaining sections, few of the old rules remain. Most of the previously existing provisions were replaced by separate laws, the norms of which form the core of the legal regulation of relations in the respective spheres.

At present the law, which does not fit into the wording of the 1734 Act, covers many areas of Swedish law: labour law, company law, laws on industrial property protection and social security, environmental protection, many parts of administrative law – in other words, basically all the areas of law that have appeared as the country developed socially and economically from the mid-19th century onwards.

The same cannot be said for the Danish Code, which has been preserved largely as a historical monument. The codified legislation represents far from a large part of the country’s current law. Both here and in Norway there is a clear attitude attaching importance to jurisprudence as a source of law. The role of jurisprudence is also important in Sweden, and this distinguishes Scandinavian law from the Romano-Germanic family of law, bringing it into some respects in line with the common law.

The centuries-long survival of the Swedish Code of 1734 and the Danish-Norwegian Code of 1683-1687 shows that over the years the law has been applied less and less frequently, and that it has gradually lost its function under the weight of the case law that has developed on its basis. This pattern of legal development also applies to the French Civil Code of 1804 and the German Civil Code.

The post Historical development of the Scandinavian legal systems appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
https://othalafehu.com/historical-development-2/feed/ 0
Peculiarities of the legal systems of the Scandinavian countries https://othalafehu.com/peculiarities-of-the-legal-systems/ https://othalafehu.com/peculiarities-of-the-legal-systems/#respond Tue, 19 Apr 2022 15:08:41 +0000 https://othalafehu.com/?p=155 It is customary to divide the legal systems of the Scandinavian countries into two groups.

The post Peculiarities of the legal systems of the Scandinavian countries appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
It is customary to divide the legal systems of the Scandinavian countries into two groups. The first group includes Denmark, Norway and Iceland, whose law historically developed on the basis of almost identical compilations of Danish and Norwegian law made in the second half of the 17th century. In spite of the fact that in accordance with the Friedrichsgam’s peace treaty of 1809, which ended the Russian-Swedish war of 1808-1809, Sweden lost Finland, the influence of Swedish law in that country remains significant up to the present day.
The interpenetration of the legal systems of these two groups is obvious. This is due to the following reasons:

1) the long mutual historical ties and the ethnic proximity of these states;

(2) The almost total absence in all these countries of the reception of Roman law, which had a considerable influence on the development of the legal systems of continental Europe;

3) The absence of any codes systematizing individual branches of law, as was done in the Romano-Germanic legal family;

4) the process of unification of Scandinavian law, which has been going on for over 100 years.

An analysis of the modern legal systems of the Nordic countries shows some commonalities between the Nordic and Romano-Germanic legal systems. First of all it is manifested in the similarity of the sources of legal regulation. In the Nordic countries the law is the main source of law, and the courts formally cannot, by resolving a particular dispute, create legal norms. This is where the most important difference between the Scandinavian and common law systems emerges.

At the same time, it must be admitted that the role of the courts in the Nordic countries has traditionally been very significant. Never here has the function of the judge been confined solely to the application of the law. The judge in the Nordic countries has great freedom of interpretation of the provisions contained in the laws and treaties.

In Sweden, the lower courts in almost all cases strictly follow the decisions made by the higher courts, first of all, decisions of the Supreme Court, recognizing them as authoritative presentation of the applicable law.

The role of jurisprudence has been growing considerably in recent years.

In Sweden, under a law of 1971, the Supreme Court hears such cases as are of interest to establish certain lines of law enforcement. It thus recognizes that the decisions of the Supreme Court are binding on the entire judicial system. Ultimately, the expansion of the discretionary power of judges leads to the increasing practice of including vague norms in laws. In Sweden, they are called “general reservations. Swedish lawyers themselves assess the development of the legislative technique of “general reservations” as. “a kind of delegation of legislative power to the judiciary.” This trend can be clearly seen in the evolution of the system of sources in all the countries of the Romano-Germanic family.
Scandinavian law uses the general legal concepts of Romano-Germanic law. The system of legal training is similar to the system of higher legal education adopted in continental Europe. All this is the result of the influence of Roman and later French and German law.

In the first decades of the nineteenth century, the French legal system had a strong influence on Northern European law.

1? In 1826 in Sweden there was even a draft of Civil Code, modeled on the Napoleonic Code, but it never became law.

At the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century the needs of modernization of law made the Scandinavian lawyers turn to the experience of Germany. Practically all Swedish law professors received their professional training in German universities during this period. However, the theoretical views of the Pandectists were not taken up by Scandinavian lawyers. The Nordic countries rejected the codification of civil law on the model of the GGU, because the latter contained many abstract notions, alien to the traditional functional approach to the law of the Nordic jurists. A sociological direction soon prevailed, and the theory of social functions, developed mainly by French jurists, received support here.

A number of characteristic features of Scandinavian law distinguish it from the Romano-Germanic family.

First, Scandinavian law does not know the division of law into public and private, or into branches. In this, it is similar to the common law family. Secondly, Nordic law is not codified. Formally in these countries the laws that originally covered all the normative material continue to operate, but for the reasons mentioned above they cannot in any way be identified with the codifications in the countries of the Romano-Germanic legal family.
Some elements of the legal systems of the Scandinavian countries, perhaps, are closer to the common law system than to the Romano-Germanic legal family. In particular, the legislator in the Nordic countries has for a long time avoided using norms with a high level of generalization. Civil and criminal procedures are governed by the same rules.

What unites Scandinavian and common law is a pragmatic approach to law, legal notions and constructions. This last circumstance explains to a certain extent the success enjoyed in the Nordic countries after World War II by the American concepts of the legal realism school. The growing influence of American law can also be seen in the recent past when certain legal structures and concepts from American law have been borrowed, for instance in the fields of tort liability, insurance, etc. The methods of teaching law in Scandinavian universities are increasingly reminiscent of the American system of legal education.

The post Peculiarities of the legal systems of the Scandinavian countries appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
https://othalafehu.com/peculiarities-of-the-legal-systems/feed/ 0
Nordic Law Group https://othalafehu.com/nordic-law-group/ https://othalafehu.com/nordic-law-group/#respond Tue, 19 Apr 2022 15:04:24 +0000 https://othalafehu.com/?p=152 The Swedish legislation is mainly uncodified. The only official way of its systematization is a serial numbering of the acts when they are published in the official edition.

The post Nordic Law Group appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
A large body of works by Professor L.P. Rasskazov is devoted to this group of law. The countries of Scandinavia (Northern Europe) – Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland – were among the most prosperous not only of the European continent, but also of the whole world by the end of the 20th century. Here for already several decades the socio-political situation has been stable based on the consecutive development of democratic principles of organizing society. The standard of living of the population is one of the highest. The Nordic countries have common historical roots. As early as in 1397 three kingdoms – Denmark, Norway and Sweden – signed the Kalmar Union, in accordance with which they united into one state under the Danish supremacy. The Scandinavian countries have the same historical roots, the closest political, economic and cultural relations, a single geographical location, similar languages (except Finland, but the second official language there is Swedish). All this predetermined the presence of common features in the legal systems of these states. But at the same time there are differences between them.

The Swedish legislation is mainly uncodified. The only official way of its systematization is a serial numbering of the acts when they are published in the official edition. The final results of the legislative process – laws and regulations – are published in the official gazette Compendium of Swedish Laws, which was founded in 1824. Finnish law bears the strong stamp of Swedish law. Finnish law gained a certain independence during the period when Finland was part of the Russian Empire, where it enjoyed a special state-legal status with a high degree of autonomy. In particular, it had its own criminal code. However, in more recent times, the reform of Finnish law has not yet been completed and many branches are still not codified; in practice, therefore, judicial decisions play the role of the source of law in cases where there is a gap. The Criminal Code of 1889 is still in force in Finland. (as amended) is still in force in Finland. The system of judicial proceedings is similar to the Swedish system.

Thus, we can say that the development of statehood and law in Scandinavian states went in their own way, different from continental Europe and England. At the same time, a certain influence on the development of Scandinavian legal systems was exerted by Romano-Germanic and Anglo-Saxon legal families. That is why in Scandinavian countries one can find some features of both continental and common law. Thus, it is connected with the Romano-Germanic legal family by the fact that the most important sources of law in Scandinavian countries are normative legal acts.

We see that for several centuries before in Scandinavian countries there was a systematization of legislation, which is also typical for the countries of Romano-Germanic legal family. But this process did not lead to the appearance of codes equal to those that appeared in France and Germany. The Swedish and Danish codes can be regarded as incorporation of the existing legislation at the time of their adoption, since some parts of these legislative acts were united on a thematic basis, but they did not represent the acts by means of which the complex regulation of homogeneous social relations was carried out (which is inherent to codes). At present, they cannot be recognized as codes, because, apart from the above, they include only an insignificant part of the existing legal provisions. Although they remain formally in force, their role is not great. This is especially true of the Christian V Code, which is essentially a tribute to history. To a lesser extent this applies to the Swedish Code of 1734, which now plays an integrative role in Swedish law.

Unlike most continental European countries, Scandinavian countries do not have codes that systematize individual branches of law. At the same time, it should be noted that in the Nordic countries there is a process of harmonization and unification of their legislation. As we have mentioned above, this process has been going on for several centuries already. This process was given an additional impetus in 1872, when the lawyers of the Nordic countries met at a convention aimed at unifying Nordic law.

An important feature of the Nordic countries (in contrast to continental Europe) is the important role of jurisprudence. As we have already noted, normative legal acts are the main sources of law there. But the role of the judge is more important than in continental Europe. In Scandinavian countries the courts have considerable freedom in interpreting legal prescriptions. At the same time, they cannot formally create rules of law, and this is the difference between them and the countries of the Anglo-Saxon legal family. That is, the concept of precedent in the Scandinavian countries in its classical sense does not exist.

Based on the above, we can conclude that the legal systems of the Nordic countries are a special kind of Romano-Germanic legal family, as in these countries are widely used its concepts and legal technique. At the same time we should note that the law of the Scandinavian countries has a lot in common with the Anglo-Saxon family of law as well.

CONCLUSION

By fulfilling the set tasks, the author managed to achieve the main goal of his work. In particular, the genesis of the formation and development of the Romano-Germanic legal system is considered, the author identifies three main stages of its development, related to the historical events in continental Europe.

Analysis of the application of the main provisions of the considered system in the states of the world, makes it possible to conclude that the continental system is used in most of the existing states.

Among the main features the author singles out

  • the main source – normative legal acts;
  • the main role in the formation of the law is given to the legislator;
  • clearly expressed division into branches of law;
  • pronounced division into private and public law.

Due to the fact that the Romano-Germanic legal system is divided into groups, which have their own characteristics, it is very difficult to highlight the general disadvantages and advantages, it is necessary to consider the features of representatives of each group separately. Having looked at the examples of the legal systems of France, Germany, Sweden and other states, the author concludes that the advantage of the system in question is that the system is clearly codified, it is easier to work with it in legal practice. The disadvantages include the fact that its basis consists of laws and it is less flexible than, for example, the Anglo-Saxon legal system, where precedents form the basis.

The post Nordic Law Group appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
https://othalafehu.com/nordic-law-group/feed/ 0
Historical development of the Scandinavian legal system https://othalafehu.com/historical-development/ https://othalafehu.com/historical-development/#respond Tue, 16 Feb 2021 14:19:48 +0000 https://othalafehu.com/?p=28 The formation of law in the Scandinavian countries, independent of the factors operating in continental Europe, proceeded in an original way.

The post Historical development of the Scandinavian legal system appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
The formation of law in the Scandinavian countries, independent of the factors operating in continental Europe, proceeded in an original way.

The Scandinavian countries, with their harsh natural conditions, did not develop classical feudalism in the European sense: the peasantry here remained personally free, and the feudal nobility was not as rich and powerful as on the European continent. Feudal relations crystallized slowly. It was first developed in Denmark (in XII century), and then (in XIII-XIV centuries) in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, while in the rest of Europe feudal relations already dominated.

The historical development of the Nordic countries was characterized by: a relatively underdeveloped administrative hierarchy; the presence of free peasants; democratic forms of accommodating the interests of different strata of the population within a church parish, which led to compromise means of resolving arising social disputes and conflicts; and constant adaptation of economic development to the conditions of patriarchal society. Thus in the Scandinavian countries a centralized state and the law unified on the territory of the country emerged quite early.

Since XIII century Sweden has been consolidating its legislation. In the middle of XIV century two laws were issued, one of which regulated relations in the countryside and another one regulated relations in cities. These acts existed in Sweden for 400 years. Over these years they were repeatedly changed and supplemented. An important role in adapting these laws to new conditions of social life was played by the courts.

In the 17th century Swedish jurisprudence adopted many designs and principles of Roman law that had been copied in European countries, so that these Roman elements became an integral part of Swedish law and Swedish legal culture. It should not be forgotten, however, that the reception of Roman law affected the Nordic countries in a minor way. Its main consequence was a stronger connection with continental European legal science than with English legal science.

The strong links between the Nordic legal systems can be explained by the fact that there have always been historically strong political, economic and cultural links between the Nordic countries. However, the full unification of Denmark, Norway and Sweden was only temporary. It was documented as the Kalmar Union and existed from 1397 to 1523. But the connections between Sweden and Finland and between Denmark, Norway and Iceland were much stronger and lasted for centuries.

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Finland was conquered by Sweden and Iceland. Finland was conquered by Sweden and was part of the Swedish Empire until (until 1809), when Sweden was forced to return Finland to Russia as a result of a lost war with Russia. The Russian state granted Finland substantial autonomy as an independent Grand Duchy. As a result, when Finland separated from Russia after the October Revolution of 1917 and proclaimed its independence in 1918, its legal unity with Sweden was not considerably weakened.

Since Denmark, Norway and Iceland had been centrally ruled by the Danish royal family since the late fourteenth century, Danish law was also in force in Norway and Iceland. In 1814. Denmark had to cede Norwegian territory to Sweden in 1814, but the Norwegian people were able to gain a significant measure of autonomy within the Swedish Empire and were granted full autonomy peacefully in 1906.
World War II.

The general historical basis of Scandinavian law was Old German law. However, each Nordic country developed its own distinctive characteristics. Since the 12th century the norms of Old German law were introduced in numerous land laws and in later times also in city laws. Already from the first acts of the central government the process of unification
Already in the first acts of central power there has been a process of unification and unification of the law. In Sweden in the 14th century it was possible to unite the law of separate localities into a single land law and the law of nations into a single municipal law.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, two most important legal acts, two codes, were formed: the first was the Code of King Christian V, adopted in Denmark in 1683 (in 1687 it was extended to Norway as “Norwegian Law”) and the second was the Swedish Code of Laws of 1734.

Both legal monuments had a lot in common. The Code of Danish King Christian V included, in addition to general provisions, sections on the clergy and secular estates; on the law of commerce and marriage; on the law of the sea; on the law of property and inheritance; and on criminal law. The Swedish code was divided into sections on marriage, parenthood, and children; inheritance; real estate; construction; commerce; crimes; execution of judgments; and court procedure and administration.

The Swedish Code had 1,300 paragraphs. Like the Danish Code, it was written in language which was simple and clear to the people, and it served to regulate more precisely, also eschewing the theoretical generalizations and didctrinal notions as they were introduced on the European continent by advocates of natural law in the 18th century. These two codes formed the basis for the further development of both branches of Scandinavian law, Danish and Swedish. However, attempts to introduce law reforms that would structurally affect the established system of law were unsuccessful. It is unlikely that the above-mentioned acts could be regarded as codes even at the time of their adoption. Rather, they should have been characterized as sets of existing legislation, since the individual parts of these legislative acts are not connected with each other in any way. All the more so, they cannot be recognized as codes now that they include only a small part of the current legislative provisions.

The Swedish Act of 1734, which is still in force today, includes practically none of the provisions that were part of it when it was passed. Most of the previously existing provisions have been replaced by separate laws, the norms of which form the core of the legal regulation of relations in the respective spheres.
Today the legislation, which did not fit into the systematics of the Act of 1734, covers many branches of Swedish law: labor and shareholder law, legislation on industrial property protection and social security, environmental protection, many parts of administrative law, in other words, to a greater extent, those areas of law regulation, which appeared as the social and economic development of the country since the mid XIX century.

The Danish Code, by contrast, has been preserved largely as a historical monument. The codified legislation represents by no means a large part of the country’s current law. In Norway, the importance of jurisprudence as a source of law is clearly established. The role of jurisprudence in Sweden is also significant, and this distinguishes Scandinavian law from the Romano-Germanic family of law, bringing it somewhat closer to the common law.

The post Historical development of the Scandinavian legal system appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
https://othalafehu.com/historical-development/feed/ 0
Peculiarities of the Scandinavian system https://othalafehu.com/peculiarities/ https://othalafehu.com/peculiarities/#respond Thu, 10 Dec 2020 14:12:43 +0000 https://othalafehu.com/?p=25 It should be noted that the Scandinavian states are mostly constitutional monarchies (Sweden, Norway, Denmark), and only Finland together with Iceland "stands apart" among the Nordic countries, because up to the present day scholars of the state define its form of government as a semi-presidential republic.

The post Peculiarities of the Scandinavian system appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
It should be noted that the Scandinavian states are mostly constitutional monarchies (Sweden, Norway, Denmark), and only Finland together with Iceland “stands apart” among the Nordic countries, because up to the present day scholars of the state define its form of government as a semi-presidential republic.

There are two groups of legal systems in the Nordic countries. The first group is composed of Denmark, Norway and Iceland, whose law has historically developed on the basis of almost identical compilations of Danish and Norwegian law, made in the second half of the seventeenth century. The second group is composed of Sweden and Finland, where a Swedish law was introduced in 1734.

The interpenetration of the legal systems of both groups is explained by the following reasons:

  • The long mutual historical ties and ethnic proximity of these states;
  • the almost total absence in all these countries of the reception of Roman law, which has had a significant influence on the development of the legal systems of continental Europe;
  • the absence of codes which codify individual branches of law in the same way as in the Romano-Germanic tradition
  • The process of unification of Scandinavian law, which has been underway for more than 100 years.

Analyzing modern legal systems of Scandinavian countries, we can identify some common features of Scandinavian and Romano-Germanic law. First of all, it is manifested in the similarity of the sources of legal regulation. In the Nordic countries the law is the main source of law, and the courts do not have the power to create legal norms in resolving a dispute. Thus, the most significant difference between the Scandinavian and common law systems emerges.

Along with this, it should be said that the role of the court in the aforementioned countries plays an important role. The judge in the Nordic countries has great freedom in interpreting the provisions contained in the laws and treaties. It is also worth noting the general trend for all the Nordic countries, which is the increasing role of jurisprudence.

As mentioned earlier, Nordic law applies the general legal concepts of Romano-Germanic law. The educational system for training future lawyers is similar to that of higher legal education in continental Europe.

This is particularly the result of the gradual influence of Roman, and later French and German law. Still, some characteristic features of Scandinavian law distinguish it from the Romano-Germanic family. In the first place, Nordic law has no division into public and private law, or into branches. In this point, it is similar to the common law family. Secondly, Nordic law is not codified. From a formal point of view, these countries continue to have laws that originally covered all normative material, but for the above reasons they cannot in any way be identified with the codifications in the countries of the Romano-Germanic legal family.

Some of the elements of the legal systems of the Nordic countries, more similar to the common law system than to the Romano-Germanic legal family. In its turn, the legislator in the Nordic countries has for quite a long time avoided using norms with a high level of generality. Criminal and civil proceedings are governed by the same rules. The common link between Scandinavian and common law is a pragmatic approach to law, legal constructions, and concepts.

The post Peculiarities of the Scandinavian system appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
https://othalafehu.com/peculiarities/feed/ 0
Unification and harmonization of legislation https://othalafehu.com/unification-and-harmonization-of-legislation/ https://othalafehu.com/unification-and-harmonization-of-legislation/#respond Sat, 14 Nov 2020 14:09:23 +0000 https://othalafehu.com/?p=22 Historical and cultural commonalities between the Nordic countries, the development of mutual trade and improved transport links

The post Unification and harmonization of legislation appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
Historical and cultural commonalities between the Nordic countries, the development of mutual trade and improved transport links, and linguistic similarities have contributed to strong legislative cooperation between these countries.

Nordic law is a unified system not only because of similarities in the historical development of law, the peculiarities of legislation and law sources. Particularly important here is the fact that the Nordic countries have been closely cooperating in the field of law, a process which started in the late 19th century, resulting in a considerable number of uniform acts which are equally valid in all of the participating states.

Legal cooperation among the Nordic countries began in 1872, with a congress which aimed to further unify Nordic law.

In 1880 a unified law on negotiable instruments came into force simultaneously in three countries, namely Sweden, Denmark and Norway. In the following years special attention was paid to the unification of commercial law (laws on trademarks, commercial registers, firms, the law on cheques) and maritime law.

In 1899 a Danish professor, B. Larsen, proposed to unify all private law in order to eventually arrive at a single Scandinavian Civil Code. This led to the unification of the individual institutions of the law of property and law of obligations. The result was a bill on the sale of movable property. In Sweden and Denmark it entered into force in 1906, in Norway in 1907, in Iceland in 1922.

Another important result of Nordic legal cooperation was the law on contracts and other legal operations in property and law of obligations. In Sweden, Denmark and Norway it came into force between 1915 and 1918, in Finland in 1929.
Scandinavian countries developed a unified contract law.

Also, the Nordic countries actively cooperated in the field of family law, although the differences between the laws of the region are more pronounced than in the law of obligations. Examples such as the equality of husband and wife, the rejection of the principle of guilt as the main ground for dissolution of marriage, the equalization of the rights of children born out of wedlock can be cited.

The post Unification and harmonization of legislation appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
https://othalafehu.com/unification-and-harmonization-of-legislation/feed/ 0
Sources of Law https://othalafehu.com/sources-of-law/ https://othalafehu.com/sources-of-law/#respond Sun, 11 Oct 2020 14:07:45 +0000 https://othalafehu.com/?p=19 Swedish law most fully reflects the features inherent in Scandinavian law in general. It was Sweden, for example, that initiated the work of uniform legislation.

The post Sources of Law appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
Swedish law most fully reflects the features inherent in Scandinavian law in general. It was Sweden, for example, that initiated the work of uniform legislation. In addition, Sweden has always been in the first place in introducing these uniform acts. Also, the very content of these acts is based on the Swedish legislation.

It can be concluded that Sweden has a significant influence on the formation of the sources of Scandinavian law. For example, the bill on sale of goods was prepared exactly at the initiative of the government of this country to replace similar laws in Denmark, Norway and Finland.
The law is the main source of law in Sweden. Despite the fact that at present Swedish law is a combination of detailed norms, most of which are not systematized, some lawyers from Sweden insist on the rule of law in Swedish law.

Nowadays there is an opposite tendency in Swedish lawmaking: from special legal norms aimed at regulating this or that situation in life to the so-called rubber-stamp norms. Their meaning lies in vesting the judiciary or other state bodies with broad discretion in solving the legal problems covered by these regulations. Discretion in such cases is practically unlimited, since the relevant legal norms refer to such categories as “reasonableness,” “fairness,” “good business practice,” etc.

Swedish law is for the most part uncodified. The only official way to systematize it is to number the acts in order when they are published in the official edition. The final results of the legislative process, that is, laws and regulations, are published in the official gazette “Collection of Swedish laws,” which was first published in 1824.

Custom in Swedish law is an “unwritten rule of law”. But the scope of application of custom in Sweden is very limited, because because of the rule of law custom plays a secondary role. This is due to the fact that most social relations are regulated by law. But in areas such as trade, navigation, custom increasingly plays a greater role, and in some cases, custom even takes precedence over law. For example, the law on the sale and barter of movable things states that the rules of this law shall apply unless otherwise provided by the parties to the contract or arising from a trade custom or custom. The customs and usages which are in force in a particular Swedish port or vicinity are generalized and published by the local chambers of commerce, which greatly simplifies their application.
The judicial systems of the Scandinavian states have many features in common; they are distinguished by simplicity, reasonable functionality, and democracy.

Another source of Swedish law is jurisprudence. Judges, in their essence, are engaged in rulemaking under the guise of interpreting the law. Swedish legal doctrine is very clear that the decision of the higher courts is nothing more than a decision in a particular case. At the same time, the courts of first instance are very reluctant to change their established practice in certain cases. They are often guided by decisions made by higher courts in similar cases.

Courts of first instance in Sweden deal with legal and administrative matters that are handled by other state institutions in other countries, such as registering the sale and mortgage of land, probate and estate planning, guardianship supervision and administration of assets of deceased persons. There are six courts of appeal (territorially) in Sweden, with the Supreme Court of Sweden as the court of last resort.

There are also so-called special courts, such as the Supreme Administrative Court and the Labor Court.
The increasing role of judicial practice in recent years is connected with the inability of legislation to respond flexibly and quickly to the dynamics of society. In addition, through the extensive use of “general clauses” in the laws, the legislator has deliberately given the judiciary an opportunity to exercise its lawmaking power. In Sweden, however, the legal profession only assigns the courts the role of interpreters of law and, to a much lesser extent, the role of precedent-setters.

The notion of precedent does not exist in Sweden as it does in English law. Nevertheless, under the 1971 reform, the Supreme Court of Sweden was indirectly given a law-making function. The highest court was given the authority to hear cases of interest in setting specific directions in law enforcement.

The rule of law, which has been created by jurisprudence, does not have the same authority as the rule of law. It is rather fragile, because of this it can be repealed at any time in connection with the consideration of a new case. The norm that has been created by jurisprudence exists and applies only insofar as each judge considers it “good.”

Thus, we can say that the Swedish legal doctrine to some extent seeks to introduce the rule of precedent, but still remains at the stage of specifying the legal norms adopted by law, their interpretation. One of the dominant trends in the development of legal sources is an increasing proportion of normative legal acts that best fit the nature of law, its properties, which ensure purposeful and dynamic development of this legal system and at the same time are the most expedient and convenient in practice.

The post Sources of Law appeared first on Othalafehu.

]]>
https://othalafehu.com/sources-of-law/feed/ 0