Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - III. Constitution and Administration. Introd. by E. Hildebrand - 4. Legal and Judicial Organization - 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.
308
III. CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION.
earlier order of things under which, legally speaking, an unmarried woma
never attained her majority. On the other hand, as constituent members of
family a man and his wife are not on a basis of equality in the eye c
the law; the husband and father occupies a position of prior authorit;
as the legal representative of his wife, as the guardian of his childrei
and as the possessor of the right of decision in the home; the wife an
mother, on the other hand, enjoys special protection in relationship to th
creditors of the family, whereby her liability in respect to debt is rendere
lighter than that of an unmarried woman.
In opposition, however, to the individualistic tendency that marks Swe
dish Civil Law, another principle that of the advantage of the comnmnit;
at large, makes itself felt. On its account numerous restrictions have bee
introduced by enactment regarding a landowner’s rights to a free disposi
tion of his land, with reference to the felling of timber, the dammin
or deflecting of streams, the quarrying of minerals, fishing and shootin
rights, etc. It is moreover due to consideration for the advantage of th
community at large, that legislation has sought, by restricting the libert;
of entering into a contract, to furnish the economically weaker party t
a contract in certain circumstances with a safeguard against oppressio:
on the part of the stronger contracting party.
As regards the several main chapters of Swedish Civil Law, Fa/milj
Law retains certain archaic features. Thus the clauses of the Marriag
Laivs contain much that displays the earlier influence exercised upo:
matters pertaining thereto by kinship and by the church.
The circumstance that legal guardianship of women still exists, even thoug
now confined to girls under age and exercised under the control of a pi
blicly appointed authority, constitutes a survival to our times of the right c
the family to decide in regard to the matrimonial connections of its womei
folk. The time-honoured claims respecting real estate asserted by the famil
are represented in the exclusion of such possessions, in an essential degree a
all events, from the otherwise regularly prevailing community of property be
tween husband and wife; as husband and wife do not inherit each other, th
real estate is retained in the family.
Traces of ecclesiastical influence remain in many sections of the marriag
laws. Thus the church form of marriage is still the normal one in Sweden
although a civil marriage may be resorted to nowadays by any bridal pair i
they prefer. The aid of the clergy is requisite, nevertheless: the registers kep
by the ecclesiastical functionaries in each parish must furnish the data to shoi
that the contracting parties to marriages are under no disability from enterin,
the bonds, and the pulpits of the State churches still publish the banni
without which no marriage can be contracted. To the cathedral chapter to
divorcees must apply to obtain their deed of separation, and betrothals are dis
solved, at the unanimous wish of the two parties concerned, by the sam
ecclesiastical authority. A cathedral chapter is likewise empowered to dissolv
certain of the so-called incomplete marriages, characteristic forms of unio:
whereby Swedish law effects the carrying out of the mans obligation to coir
plete the marriage by reason of his promise and his having brought the womai
to bed with child.
The guiding principle on which the regulation of the legal consequences o
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
