Scandinavian/Nordic law

Anna Elsa, Suvi

Where, why,
who and
how?
 Map of
Sweden in
1658
 ▪ Nordic countries are seen as culturally and socially
alike countries with roughly similar legal systems.
▪ Nordic (or Scandinavian) law is seen either as a
subgroup of civil law or as an independent legal family.
Its most common characteristics are the lack of a civil
Main code, although statutory law acts as a basis for most
fields of law, and legislative co-operation.
Characteristics ▪ Scandinavian law is characterized by its specific legal
method, its mixture of statutory and case law and its - in
relation to most continental EU countries - less
theoretical and conceptualized approach to legal
problems.
 1872 Modern law
• European and
international
"Civil code of influences
1734"
• Pressured to revise the
law,a new code was
geneated
Birger Jarl 1200 – • Foundation of current
1300 codes
• Introduction of the first
national laws
concerning the
protection of women,
the home, churches and
"The Thing" 800 the court.
– 1200
• Regular meetings
of "free men"
• Customary laws
• Private
compilations
 ▪ Free access to the wilderness, privately owned as well
as public land and roads
▪ Everyman’s rights are traditionally understood as the
right to move about, stay and temporarily camp on
Everyman's right another’s land and utilise certain natural products
or (mushrooms, berries etc.) there without the consent of
the landowner.
Freedom to roam
▪ It is not allowed to move about in yards, cultivated areas
or cultivated fields
▪ Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland
 ▪ A law protecting women from abduction and rape
introduced by Birger Jarl in 1260 in Sweden

"Kvinnofrid" ▪ Kvinnofrid – Violence Against Women Act

▪ The early foundation of equality in the Nordic
countries
The (old) Scandinavian Contract Act
▪ There is no other model for the formation of contracts than
the offer-acceptance-model

▪ There is no provision on the liability in connection with

negotiating a contract

▪ There is no provision on the consequences of an invalid

contract, c.f. on restitution or on to what extent a liability of
economic compensation exists.

▪ There is no provision on illegal or immoral contracts.

▪ There is no provision on how to determine the content of the
contract, i.e. no provision on interpretation or on standard
terms

▪ There is no provision on the consequences of breach of

contract.
 Good to know

▪ While in Norway and Denmark Constitutional Acts are important

national symbols, in Sweden and Finland it's more pragmatic. There
are no separate Constitutional courts.

▪ Until recently (2000), reviewing constitutionality of legislation has

been prohibited in Finland.

▪ In 1950s-60s Finland was significantly less resourceful, less flexible

and more repressive than other Nordic countries and had ~4x higher
prisoner rates. Systematic law reforms continued until mid 1990s, for
example shorter prison sentences and more fines/ conditional
sentences.

▪ Imprisonment rates haven't much affected the criminality rates.

▪ When national legal science was emerging in the Nordic countries
(19th century) it was mainly by adapting German legal ideas.
 Good to know

▪ Social security, as well as health benefits and services are immense,

and meant for every citizen. The standard of benefits is rather high in
the Nordic countries. These are guaranteed as subjective rights or
resource bound rights.

▪ There is a special state authority – Consumer Ombudsman,

supervising marketing activities. He/she can also assist individual
consumers in court.

▪ A typical feature in Finland (and other Nordic countries) is preventive

action in supervising marketing – not based on law but created in
practice over the years. There are special marketing guidelines for
business sectors, based on existing case law.

▪ There are no small claims procedures in courts and in consumer

disputes, the loser pays all expenses.
 NC, NCM, N5...
▪ There is the Nordic Council (NC) for parliamentary cooperation and the
Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) for intergovernmental cooperation. NCM
consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Faroe Islands,
Greenland and Åland Islands.

▪ Foreign and security policy issues are on the agenda of both the NC and the
NCM, but neither the NC nor the NCM has an organ specifically dedicated to
foreign, security or defense policy matters.

▪ Nordic five or N5, referring to the five Nordic states – deals with Nordic
foreign and security policy. N5 engages in foreign and security cooperation
with a number of close partners, e.g. the three Baltic countries (together
forming the Nordic-Baltic Eight or NB8). There are annual meetings between
both the prime ministers and the foreign ministers of the eight countries.
 ▪ Nordic Law in a European Context: Some Comparative
Observations. URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1012541

▪ Nordic Law - Between Tradition and Dynamism. URL:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228223694_Nordic_Law_-
_Between_Tradition_and_Dynamism

▪ Nuotio et. al. 2012 Introduction to Finnish law and legal culture.

▪ Karhu, J. 2010 Introduction to Finnish Law. URLL http://iwwww.ulapland.fi/includes/loader

.aspx?id=cb85342a-8d27-4128-ba0a-b46dea5e9037 Lapslan University

▪ A Stronger North? Nordic cooperation in foreign and security policy in a new security

References ▪
environment. URL: http://www.nordefco.org/files/nordic-vnteas-report_final.pdf

Historical Development Of Scandinavian Law. URL:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Scandinavian-law

▪ Everyman's right
URL: https://helda.helsinki.fi/bitstream/handle/10138/159060/SY_5en_2015.pdf?sequence
=1&isAllowed=y

▪ Jansson, K. 2002. Kvinnofrid – synen på våldtäkt och och konstruktionen av kön i Sverige
1600-1800. URL: http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:162089/FULLTEXT01.pdf

▪ Ramberg, C. The Hidden Secrets of Scandinavian Contract Law

URL: http://www.scandinavianlaw.se/pdf/50-15.pdf