Abstract
In the following, peculiarities of the Nordic legal systems and legal thinking, are discussed. Common features of the legal systems are based both on history (on a certain historical delay in comparison to many other European countries) and legal cooperation. The active legal cooperation, started in the 1870s, not only has a long history. It has also achieved many concrete results, common legal norms as an example. Often, Nordic peculiarities of legal thinking are described by using such expressions as pragmatism, realism, absence of formality, transparency and equality. These values have also been cornerstones of the Nordic cooperation. They also explain a certain reluctance towards trends and policies within the EU. Even today, Nordic lawyers prioritise flexibility in law-making (with discrete acts) above creating a codified private law system (with a civil code).
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Since the first meeting of Nordic lawyers in Copenhagen in 1872, these have been held every three years except for the periods between 1903–1918 and 1938–1947. The latest meeting (Helsinki 2017) was attended by around 900 lawyers—judges, civil servants, practising lawyers and legal scholars—from all the Nordic countries. To enhance their importance for general debate on law, since the first meetings conference papers, talks and partly also discussions among participants have been printed and published. See http://www.nordisktjuristmote.org/.
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Matteucci (1956).
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When the first Nordic lawyers’ meeting was convened, the invitation stressed that because of a common understanding of law and of the common origin of many legal institutions, it was only natural that development of those institutions would need common action. The topics mentioned for cooperation were the law of commerce and issues of court procedure in civil and penal matters. During the first meeting in 1872, the question was raised of common Nordic legislation on commercial instruments of payment such as the bill of exchange, which was a means of getting short credit. This was successfully followed up by Nordic statutes; Carsten (1993).
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Common law here in the meaning of Glenn (2005).
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See further Bärlund and Moegelvang-Hansen in this volume.
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See further Lund-Andersen and Kronborg in this volume.
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Se further Bärlund and Moegelvang-Hansen in this volume. On differences in regulation of registred partnership see further Lund-Andersen and Kronborg in this volume.
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The explorer spirit of Nordic cooperation, active in the 1870s–1930s and again when Nordic legislative cooperation was revitalized after World War II, is no longer present on the same scale. At the meeting of Nordic lawyers in 2005 the question whether Nordic legal cooperation had any further role to play actually came under discussion, with the conclusion that more fuel was necessary if this “Nordic dimension” was to maintain its position, Dahl (2005). Four years later a proposal was launched for more effective Nordic cooperation in implementing European (EU/EEA) legislation. Buskjær Christensen and Fenger (2009).
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The newest initiative Backer (2018).
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See Tamm (1984).
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Tamm (2011).
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See Wagner (1986).
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Today, Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish; For instance, legislation is always published in both languages. Thus, in the following chapters references to the legislation in Finland can be found both in Finnish and Swedish.
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In the so-called Russification period during the decades before and after 1900, still during the autonomous period, legalism was a concept that referred to retaining Swedish legislation that was (still) in force in Finland as a symbol of “the rule of law”.
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See further Husa in this volume.
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Wilhelmsson (1985).
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Carsten (1993).
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For participants from Finland, however, this means only the Swedish language. The Finnish language belongs among Indo-European languages and cannot be understood on the basis of knowledge of the other Nordic languages.
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Early results of this Nordic identity included the Nordic legal encyclopaedia (Nordisk Retsencyklopedi 1878–1899) and the Nordic journal Tidskrift for Retsvidenskab (today Tidsskrift for Rettsvitenskap, 1888–).
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See further Petersen and Niemi in this volume.
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Tamm (2010).
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See further Sunde and Nylund in this volume.
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See further Mäenpää and Fenger in this volume.
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Wilhelmsson (1994). See also further Bärlund and Moegelvang-Hansen in this volume.
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Stenius (2013).
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Tax law and social security complaints in Denmark and Norway are also decided by organs similar to ordinary courts. In these fields more similarities exist between the Nordic countries than in other parts of the complaints system.
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See further Sunde and Nylund in this volume.
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Zweigert and Kötz (1998).
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Wind and Føllesdal (2009); see also further Husa in this volume.
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See further Lappi-Seppälä and Nuotio in this volume.
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See further Modéer (2005).
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Tamm (2011), pp. 135–139.
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In family law especial objects of cooperation were marriage and divorce, property relations between spouses, guardianship and the relationship between parents and children. See further Lund-Andersen and Kronborg in this volume.
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In the field of civil law the most important results of Nordic cooperation were nearly identical statutes on sale, agency, and on the conclusion and nullity (non-validity) of contracts. See further Bärlund and Moegelvang-Hansen in this volume.
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Still, in 1948 the Danish law professor, Frederik Vinding Kruse, also acting on his own initiative, presented to the Nordic lawyers’ meeting a draft of a Nordic civil code, and in 1962 a second draft.
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Links do exist between Nordic law and the so-called “civil law family” represented e.g. by German law. But Nordic cooperation was still an important feature in creating and maintaining a way of legal thinking—and legal style—different from the highly abstract German approach.
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Tamm (1978).
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Influences in legal thinking were closely connected to Finnish philosophy of the 1960s and 1970s (e.g. von Wright and Hintikka), which was strongly influenced by Anglo-American analytical philosophy.
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The most important changes in Finnish society can be dated to as late as the 1970s. Since then it has become possible to speak of a welfare (social) state. The decade was characterised by various democratization and modernisation procedures: for instance, reforms to the school system, university education, and part of the court system. Approximation of legal science to other social sciences was required in terms of legal education at universities. Moreover, trends in legal research changed, visible e.g. in dissertations and other academic works pointing out the “social dimension” of law.
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Tuori (2010), pp. 151–153.
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Boucht (1999).
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See further Lappi-Seppälä and Nuotio in this volume.
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Träskman (2012).
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Wenander (2014).
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Wilhelmsson (2005).
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Backer (2018).
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Buskjær Christensen and Fenger (2009).
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Letto-Vanamo, P., Tamm, D. (2019). Nordic Legal Mind. In: Letto-Vanamo, P., Tamm, D., Gram Mortensen, B.O. (eds) Nordic Law in European Context. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 73. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03006-3_1
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