Ingrid Kabir is a law librarian at the law section of Stockholm University Library. The Stockholm University Library is the national resource library for law in Sweden. Building the portal Rättskällan is a collaborative effort with five law participating libraries. The number of editors are at the present time twelve with a view to expand. She is the coordinator of the work with Rättskällan and is actively been promoting the use of electronic sources to legal resources.
This article is an update to Ingrid’s Guide to the Swedish Legal System, published on LLRX.com, November 1, 2000.
- The Swedish Legal System
- The Swedish Constitution
- Sources of Law
- Main Series of Sources to Law
- Electronic Sources of Statutes
- The Court System and Reports of Cases
- The General Courts
- The Administrative Courts
- Electronic Sources to Case Law from General Courts and Administrative Courts
- Indexes and Digests
- Parliamentary Information
- The Legal Profession
- Legal Education
- Law Libraries
- Legal Publishers
- Legal News and Current Awareness
- Introductory Texts in English
- Citation of Swedish Legal Materials
- Cases from the Supreme Court
- Cases from the Supreme Administrative Court
- Government Bills
- Journal Articles
- Standard Texts
The Swedish legal system has its roots in the continental legal tradition with its dependence on statutory law. There was close communication between scholars of Sweden and the European continent in the eighteenth century. This led to a strong influence from the German-Roman tradition of the European continental countries on the Swedish legal system. A comprehensive Swedish code was enacted in 1734. This code, known as The Code of 1734, was divided into the following sections:
- The Book of Marriage
- The Book on Parents
- The Book on Inheritance
- The Book on Land
- The Book on Building
- The Book on Commerce
- The Book on Crimes
- The Book on Judicial Procedure
- The Book on execution of Judgements
This arrangement can still be found in the comprehensive edition of The Law Book (in Swedish Sveriges Rikes Lag) published by Norstedt. As with texts of parliament and government of any country, the texts are available only in the vernacular. However, any information available in English has been incorporated in this guide. The Swedish language version of titles are given in italics below.
The fundamental laws of Sweden are the following: The Act of Succession, The Freedom of the Press Act, The Instrument of Government (Constitution), The Freedom of Expression Act. These can be changed only by two successive parliaments with an intervening general election. A sitting Parliament can amend the Parliament Act, lacking the character of a fundamental law but it requires a qualified majority. The acts which form the Swedish Constitution are available in English from the International Constitutional Law Project at the University of Wuerzburg, Germany. The Swedish texts can be found at the web site of the Swedish Parliament.
Recent developments of Swedish laws are linked to Sweden’s membership in the European Union effective from January 1995.
Acts and ordinances are published in The Swedish Code of Statutes since 1925. The Swedish title is “Svenska författningssamling (SFS)”. The statutes are cumulated in annual volumes with a keyword index. An index to statutes in force is published regularly by the title: “Register över gällande SFS-författningar”.
A comprehensive one-volume edition of Swedish laws entitled “Sveriges Rikes Lag” is published annually by Norstedt. Since 1999, the publishing house Iustus has started to release an annual volume of Swedish law entitled “Svensk Lag”.
- Register över gällande SFS-författningar. Fakta info direkt, 2000.
- Svensk författningssamling: SFS. Fakta info direkt, 1925-.
- Sveriges Rikes Lag. Norstedt, 1861-.
- Svensk lag. Iustus 1999-.
Full text of the Swedish Code of Statutes is available in the database of the Swedish Parliament called “RixLex“. This database provides texts of government bills, committee reports, proposals from members of the parliament and minutes of debates. Many guides, fact sheets and explanatory texts are also available. There is an English language version of the web site of the Swedish Parliament.
At a gateway of the government called Lagrummet, one can retrieve case law, statutes, government bills and texts of treaties. Case law from the general courts as well as from the administrative courts is also available. However, no information in English is yet available. A selection of Swedish codes and acts of special interest issued by the Swedish ministries can be found in English translation from the web site of the Swedish Government. The list of translated codes include The Swedish Penal Code and The Personal Data Act and many more. Fact sheets on Swedish government policy are also included.
Infotorg is the name of an information portal, which has gateways to more than 20 Swedish and some non-Swedish online services such as LEXIS-NEXIS. Rättsbanken is the name of the gateway to Swedish sources to statutes, case law and legal literature.
Notisum is the name of another gateway to statutes and case law. A great part of the content is provided free of cost in publicly available archives. A subscription service is also available.
There are ninety-four judicial districts, each one with a District Court (Tingsrätt). The reports of the district courts are available only at the archive of the district court itself. There are six Courts of Appeal. The Supreme Court is located in Stockholm. The general courts hear both criminal and civil cases. There are reporting services of cases from the Courts of Appeal and the Supreme Court. A general description of the Swedish Judiciary is available in English at the website of the National Courts Administration.
- Nytt juridiskt arkiv: Avd. I. Rättsfall från Högsta domstolen. Norstedt, 1874-. (Cases from the Supreme Court)
- Rättsfall från Hovrätterna. Fritzes, 1980-. (Cases from the six Courts of Appeal)
A number of specialised reports such as reports from The Labour Court and the Water Rights Courts are available. These cases are reported in specialised reports and will not be mentioned here.
There are twenty-three judicial districts, each one with a County Administrative Court (länsrätt). There are four Administrative Courts of Appeal (Kammarrätter). The Supreme Administrative Court (Regeringsrätten) is located in Stockholm.
- Regeringsrättens årsbok. Fritzes, 1909-.
- Lagrummet – texts of the Swedish Code of Statutes and texts of cases from the General Courts as well as from the Administrative courts. This gateway is under development.
- Infotorg is the name of an information portal, which has gateways to more than 20 Swedish and non-Swedish online services such as LEXIS-NEXIS.
- Rättsbanken is the name of the gateway to Swedish sources to statutes and case law.
- Notisum is the name of another gateway to statutes and case law. A great part of the content Is provided in a publicly available archive of texts.
- Norstedts blå bibliotek. Norstedt 1965-.
- Norstedts gula bibliotek. Norstedt 1963-.
- Norstedts juridiska handbok. Norstedt 1997.
- Norstedts laghandböcker. Norstedt 1983-.
- Regner, N. Svensk juridisk litteratur. Norstedts, 1957-.
- Regner, N. Rättspraxis litteraturen. Norstedt 1999.
- Nytt juridiskt arkiv: Avd. II Tidskrift för lagstiftning m.m. Norstedts, 1976-.
The database of the Swedish Parliament RixLex offers a large number of texts from the parliament such as government bills (propositioner), minutes of debates (protokoll) and committee reports (utskottsbetänkanden).The website of the Parliament is easy to use. There are many guides to information sources, particularly on various aspects of European Union policies. Biographical information on the members of the parliament and information on their special duties are also available. There is also information on contributions of members to debates and committee work. The website Lagrummet, sponsored by the Government, provides texts of recent government bills in pdf format. Information on public administration in Sweden, both at the national and the regional level is available from Sverige Direkt.
Stockholm University Library is a national resource library for law. A portal to legal resources on the Internet Rättskällan has been developed. It is still, however, very much in its infancy. The work to collect and register websites is done in collaboration with librarians at five law libraries in Sweden.
- The Swedish Bar Association (Advokatsamfundet)
- The Department of Law School of Economics and Commercial Law of the Gothenburg University
- The Department of Law of the University of Umeå
- The Faculty of Law at The University of Stockholm
- The Faculty of Law at the University of Uppsala
- The Faculty of Law at the University of Lund
- The Economics Library of the Gothenburg University Library
- The Law Library of Stockholm University Library
- The Law Library of the Uppsala University Library
- The Law Library of the Faculty of Law, The University of Lund
- The Library of the University of Umeå
- LIBRIS WebSearch – the union catalogue of Swedish libraries representing the holdings of about 200 Swedish libraries, mainly research libraries.
The major legal publishers are:
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
In the yearbook Scandinavian Studies in Law, legal scholars present reviews of legal developments within the Scandinavian countries. The most recent volumes are devoted to International aspects of Scandinavian law. The yearbook is published under the auspices of The Stockholm University Faculty of Law and the Stockholm Institute for Scandinavian Law.
Bogdan, M. (ed.) Swedish law in the new millenium. Norstedts juridik, 2000. 537 p. ISBN 91-39-00628-X
Tiberg, H. (ed.) Swedish law: a survey. Juristförlaget, 1994. 601 p. ISBN 91-7598-687-6
Statutes from the Swedish Code of Statutes are cited by the abbreviated name of the statute collection. The full name is Svensk författningssamling and the abbreviation is SFS. The Personal Data Act would be cited in the following manner: SFS 1998:204.
Cases from the Supreme Court are published in the journal Nytt Juridiskt Arkiv, Avdelning I and the abbreviation of the name of the journal is NJA.
A recent case is cited in the following way: NJA 2000 s. 285. The text of the case is published on page 285 in the journal Nytt Juridiskt Arkiv of year 2000.
Regeringsrättens årsbok is the name of the yearbook in which cases from the Supreme Administrative Court is published. The abbreviation is RÅ. One case may cited like this: RÅ 1942 S 519. After the abbreviation and year follows the code of the section and the number.
Government bills are cited in the following manner: The Government bill on The Swedish Environmental Quality Objectives is cited in the following way: Prop. 1997/98:145. The Swedish word for government bill is proposition and the abbreviated form is Prop. The abbreviation is followed by the period of the session of the parliament and the number of the bill.
Writing references and citing legal literature in Swedish law journals closely follows standardised practice.
Strömberg, H. allmän förvaltningsrätt. 20 ed. Liber Ekonomi, 2000. 256 p. ISBN 91-47-06031-X
Donner, G. Handbok i bankrätt. Juridik & samhälle, 1996. 312 p. ISBN 91-7199-017-8
Handelsrättlig lagbok. Juristförlaget, 1995. 481 p. ISBN 91-7598724-4
Nial, H. & Johansson, S. Svensk associationsrätt I huvuddrag. 7. ed. Norstedts juridik, 2000. 374 p. ISBN 91-39-20120-1
Carlsson, K. Konkurrenslagen. Norstedts juridik, 1999. 527 p. ISBN 91-39-00319-1
Grobgeld, L. Konsumenträtt. Norstedts juridik, 1999. 323 p. ISBN 91-39-10304-8
ADlercreutz, A. Avtal. 11. ed. Norstedts juridik, 2000. 120 p. ISBN 91-39-20267-4
Heuman, L. Process- och straffrätt för juridisk översiktskurs. 19 ed. Norstedts juridik, 2001. 127 p. ISBN 91-39-20228-3
Göransson, H. Arbetslagstiftning 2000 Lagar och andra förordningar som de lyder 1 juli 2000. Norstedts juridik, 2000. 527 p. ISBN 91-39-20256-9
Karlmark, S. Miljörätt ur ett straffrättsligt perspektiv. 2.ed. Norstedts juridik, 1999. 331 p. ISBN 91-39-00402-3
Diesen, C. Bevisprövning I brottmål. Juristförlaget, 1994. 156 p. ISBN 91-7598-610-8
Wickström, A. & Komujärvi, U. Familjerätten en introduction. Norstedts juridik, 2000. 199 p. ISBN 91-39-20197-X
Danelius, H. Mänskliga rättigheter i europeisk praxis. Norstedts juridik, 1997. 410 p. ISBN 91-39-00203-9
Wikrén, G. Utlänningslagen med kommentarer. 6. ed. Norstedts juridik, 1997. 491 p. ISBN 91-39-10256-4
Information Technology Law
Seipel, P. Juridik och IT introduction till rättsinformatiken. Norstedts juridik, 1997. 245 p. ISBN 91-39-00095-8
Bogdan, M. Sveriges och EU:s internationella insolvensrätt. Norstedts juridik. 1997. 238p. ISBN 91-39-00286-1
Bengtsson, B. Försäkringsrätt. 5. ed. Norstedts juridik, 1999. 115 p. ISBN 91-39-20186-4
Koktvedgaard, M. & Levin, M. Lärobok i immaterialrätt. Norstedts juridik, 2000. 454 p. ISBN 91-39-20210-0
Collin, P. H. English law disctionary engelsk – svensk – engelsk. Stockholm: Esselte Ordbok, 1989. 340 p. ISBN 91-7113-008-X
Bernitz, U. Finna rätt. 6.u. Norstedts juridik, 2000. 248 p. ISBN 91-39-20251-8
Sahlin, J. Hälso- och sjukvårdslagen. 6. ed. Norstedts juridik, 2000. 341 p. ISBN 91-39-10378-1
Håstad, T. Sakrätt avseende lös egendom. 6. ed. Norstedts juridik, 2000. 488 p. ISBN 91-39-20243-7
Swedish Legal System
Bogdan, M. (ed.) Swedish Law in the New Millennium. Norstedts juridik, 2000. 537 p. ISBN 91-39-00628-X
Smiciklas, M. & Jakobsson, O. Skatterätt. 4 ed. Studentlitteratur, 2000. 132 p. ISBN 91-4401345-0