Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - III. Constitution and Administration. Introd. by E. Hildebrand - 4. Legal and Judicial Organization - History of Swedish Law. By K. G. Westman - Civil Law. By C. G. E. Björling
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
CIVIL LAW.
30!)
At the present time Swedish law is in a state of transition and that
involves the exercise of an exceedingly large degree of care and
watchfulness on the part of legislators, judges and jurisprudents.
Civil Law.
Side by side with sundry legal enactments bearing the stamp of
a later era, the principal source from which Swedish Civil Law derives,
is still the Code of 1734, which almost word for word handed on,
so far as the topic here dealt with is concerned — that is to say primarily
in its sections on Marriage, Inheritance, Land, Building and Commerce
— the prescriptions laid clown in the mediaeval Shire Laws
(Landskapslagar). Law-making, however, which has gone on unremittingly in the
intervening period of time, has both altered the ancient body of laws
in several points and brought an increasing number of the aspects of
the daily intercourse of citizens under the purview of the written law.
It is only in regard to a few isolated questions, e. g. collective bargaining
between employers and workmen and the regulation of so-termed
non-economic ("ideal") associations (e. g. Working Men’s Clubs and
Temperance Societies), that divergence of opinion has been too pronounced for
positive results, to accrue from the legislative work hitherto expended upon
them. Thus Swedish Civil Law in its present phase reflects, though
incompletely and far from perfectly, the progressive general development
of the community.
The increased international intercourse characteristic of our times also
finds expression in the domain of the Civil Law. By various agreements
drawn up and signed by representatives of a number of contries, among
which Sweden has usually been one, a foundation is being laid of an
International Law Private, which in the departments of Family Law
and Immaterial Property Law has already exercised a considerable
influence. As regards the three Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Norway
and Sweden, a highly desirable uniformity — amounting indeed in some
degree to an actual indentity of wording — has been attained in large
sections of the laws passed in recent times affecting the personal
rights and liberties of individuals, the items most deserving mention being
Bills of Exchange Law, Maritime Law, and the Law of Sale and
Purchase of Personal Property.
As might be expected, Swedish Civil Law has become permeated with the
spirit of the principle, so universally to the fore during last century, of
individual right of agency. Kinship ceases to be so important an element as
before, though it by no means entirely disappears, especially in the domain
of Family Law. The equality of the sexes in the eye of the law has also
been pretty completely established. Girl and boy both now come of age at
twenty-one; it is indeed possible for the former at her own will to waive
the privilege attaching to coming of age, but that is a reminiscense of the
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
