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.