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.