: Guide to Legal Research in Norway
Pål A. Bertnes is the Director of the Law Library (Law School Library) at The Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo. As an author, editor and publisher of books and articles and as a lecturer, his main professional interests have been related to matters concerning remedies for the retrieval of sources of law. The list of his publications is available online.
Published August 2007
1. INTRODUCTION TO THE NORWEGIAN LEGAL SYSTEM
1.1 NORWEGIAN LAW. SOME MAIN HISTORICAL POINTS
1.3 THE NORWEGIAN HIERARCHY OF LEGAL NORMS
2. INTRODUCTORY WORKS ON THE LEGAL SYSTEM AND LEGAL RESEARCH
3. BASIC TEXTS, LEGISLATION, CODES AND COMMENTARIES
3.1 ACTS OR STATUTES
3.2 REGULATIONS
3.3 CIRCULARS
4.1 LAW REPORTS
4.3 USAGE
5. COMPUTER-BASED SYSTEMS OF BASIC LEGAL TEXTS
5.3 JURIDISK NETTVISER (GATEWAY TO LAW)
5.4 PREPARATORY WORK AND OTHER BACKGROUND MATERIAL
5.5 REFERENCE WORK
7. INDEXING AND ABSTRACTING SERVICES
7.1.1 Legal Dictionaries in Norwegian
7.1.2 Legal Dictionaries in Foreign Languages
8. CURRENT INFORMATION SOURCES
8.1 JOURNALS, RESEARCH REPORTS, NEWS INFORMATION
9. THE FACULTY OF LAW LIBRARY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OSLO
10. THE FACULTY OF LAW LIBRARY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN
11. THE FACULTY OF LAW LIBRARY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TROMSØ
12. HEAD LAW LIBRARIANS AT NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
12.1 THE FACULTY OF LAW LIBRARY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OSLO
12.2 THE FACULTY OF LAW LIBRARY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN
12.3 THE FACULTY OF LAW LIBRARY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TROMSØ
13.1 ASSOCIATIONS OF LAWYERS AND JUDGES
13.4 LAW SCHOOLS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS
13.5 LAW LIBRARIES AND LIBRARIES WITH LAW LITERATURE
13.6 PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS
13.8 BUSINESS INFORMATION ORGANIZATIONS
1. Introduction to the Norwegian Legal System
Norway united as one Kingdom at the end of the 9th century. Until then, the country had consisted of several regional kingdoms, each with its own legal system. At that time, a proper administration of justice took place at the Althing, which was a general assembly of representatives from the rural community or the larger community units.
The Lagting was established during the middle of the tenth century and was a National representative organ constituted of regional representatives. The Lagting exercised legislative, executive and judiciary power within its section of the realm. Gradually the court, Lagrett, developed out of the Lagting. It wielded the judiciary power and was constituted of select Lagting members.
Written laws first appeared in the 12th century. The oldest codes of law known to us date from the 12th and 13th centuries, and are known as landsskapslovene (Regional laws).
In 1274 King Magnus Lagabøte (Magnus the Law Mender) compiled and revised the Regional law codifications into a National code, called Landslov or Magnus Lagabøtes Lov. The corpus of King Magnus Lagabøte's law remained the governing law for more than 400 years.
The King possessed legislative power prior to the enactment of the Landslov, and he continued to exercise this power during Norway's union with Denmark from 1380. A revised version of the National Code was translated from Old Norse to Danish in 1604 and renamed (King) Christian IV's Norwegian Law. This law incorporated most of the provisions issued by previous kings.
In 1687, a new comprehensive code was provided in Christian V's Norwegian Law, incorporating Danish law to a considerable extent. However, unlike the legislation of many other countries at the time, Danish law was not heavily influenced by Roman law. Some of the provisions of Christian V's Norwegian Law still remain in force.
The Norwegian Constitution was adopted at Eidsvoll in 1814, and was the result of events in Europe. At the Treaty of Kiel in 1814, the King of Denmark/Norway was forced to renounce his rights to Norway to the King of Sweden, granting him full sovereign powers. However, § 1 of the Norwegian Constitution provides that "The Kingdom of Norway is a free, independent and indivisible realm". In other words: Norway submitted to a union with Sweden as a sovereign nation. The union with Sweden ended in 1905 when Norway became an independent constitutional monarchy.
The governing ideas behind the Norwegian constitution were largely the result of influence by English and French political philosophers (Locke, Montesquieu and Rousseau), as well as the constitutions of France and the USA. The Norwegian Constitution contains a similar division of power between the executive King/Government, legislative Storting (Parliament) and judiciary (the courts, in particular the Supreme Court) as in the American Constitution. The development in Norway has however been very different from that of the USA. The constitutional situation today, in brief, is that Stortinget passes laws and the Government wields executive power. However, since parliamentary rule developed as customary constitutional law during the late 19th century, the Government is now dependent on support from the Storting.
The main function of the courts is obviously to solve disputes, but in addition, the Supreme Court has constitutional review and, with the system of case law and judicial precedents, is also an important interpreter of statute and custom law.
The Norwegian legal system is primarily built on an outgrowth of National roots, correspondent to the other Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland). The historical development of these countries is similar, particularly within the field of law, but other legal systems have also left their mark.
Influence from Anglo-American law is mostly limited to criminal procedure and to criminal remedies. EC law has become an important part of Norwegian law, in particular after EØS (The European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement) was incorporated into Norwegian law in November 1992. EC directives are now implemented through Acts passed by the Storting or by Government regulations.
The development of the court system is too diverse to be addressed in detail in this presentation. However, it is important to notice that Høyesterett (The Supreme Court) was established in 1815, in accordance with the Constitution, having previously been situated in Denmark.
There are three ordinary judicial authorities within the Norwegian court system:
If a case is of grave nature it may be referred directly to the High Court. In addition, special tribunals have the authority to settle specific problems, e.g. land questions (Land Apportionment Court), labour disputes (Labour Disputes Court), and social security disputes (National Insurance Court). However, there are very few such courts, and they all have very limited jurisdiction.
The courts only started acting as lawmakers at the end of the 19th century, exercising constitutional review on statutory law as well as developing custom law.
In 1915 Domstolsloven (Act relating to the courts of justice (chapter 11 and 12 in English)) was passed requiring the Supreme Court to publish reports of its decisions, including arguments and how they voted. These reports are considerably briefer than what is common in Germany and especially in USA. Another act was passed in 1926 (Plenumsloven, The Plenary Act) allowing for a plenary session if two or more Supreme Court judges believe they might rule in conflict with existing case law. This is one of the major reasons why Supreme Court's decisions have such a substantial legislative effect.
1.3 The Norwegian Hierarchy of Legal Norms
Norway is a unitary state, as opposed to a federation. In spite of The EEA Agreement, the Norwegian legal system can still be regarded as a hierarchical unit of norms.
The Constitution of 17th of May 1814 is the apex of Norwegian law. Statute law is adapted pursuant to the Constitution and is consequently subordinate to the Constitution according to the "Lex Superior" principle. Regulations adapted pursuant to a statute law are subordinate to such law. §17 of the Constitution explicitly give statutory law higher rank than provisional laws.
2. Introductory Works on the Legal System and Legal Research
The major introductory work is "Knoph on Norwegian Law" (Knoph 1998). This is a comprehensive book with many contributing writers, and it contains brief introductions to the various legal subjects. Erik Boe has written Innføring i juss; juridisk tenkning og rettskildelære, containing advice on methods of studying, legal theory and a summary of certain areas of law (Boe 1996). Johs. Andenæs' Innføring i rettstudiet (Andenæs 1998), Mads Henry Andenæs' Rettskildelære (Andenæs 1997), Torstein Eckhoff's Rettskildelære (Eckhoff 2001) and Carl August Fleischer's Rettskilder og juridisk metode (Fleischer 1998), are all theoretical works emphasizing how to apply legal sources.
Praktisk rettskildelære, en håndbok for rettsstudiet, (Practical Textbook on Sources of Legal Information. Legal Information Retrieval in Norway) is written by Pål A. Bertnes and Halvor Kongshavn in 1997. An abbreviated and nearly ajour electronic version is available on the Internet. In 2005 a new version of the book was published with the title "Praktisk rettskildelære. Juridisk informasjonssøking" (Bertnes 2005). The publication refers to legal literature and sources of law, and also provides guidance on how to do legal research, both manually and online. Birger Stuevold Lassen has written A Presentation of Works of Jurisprudence in Norwegian (Presentasjon av rettsvitenskapelige arbeider på norsk) (Lassen 1993).
All the above mentioned titles are published in Norwegian only. Only a few minor publications and articles about Norwegian law have been published in English. One of the most recent articles describing the central issues of the Norwegian legal system is Bertnes: an article on Norway, published in Information sources in law (1997), edited by Winterton and Moys. Hagelien/Vonen has written: The Norwegian Legal System. An introductory guide (1994), also published in EFTA Legal System (Hagelien 1993). The Ministry of Justice has formerly published Administration of justice (1980). There is also an article in the Modern Legal System Encyclopaedia, Volume 4B, pp 4.100.3 - 4.100.61 called "The Legal System of Norway". In addition, several projects are in progress in order to meet the demands for law literature in English required by foreign students at The Faculty of Law, UiO.
3. Basic Texts, Legislation, Codes and Commentaries
There are two public periodic publications of statute law. According to special statute, Norsk Lovtidende (Legal Gazette) must include new statutory laws and resolutions informing when laws come into force, their abolition and their scope. Norsk Lovtidende is published twice a month and is fully up to date on statutory law, regulations, tax resolutions and so forth. Norsk Lovtidende is divided into two parts: Part 1 contains statutory law and central regulations, while part 2 contains regional and local regulations. Cumulative quarterly indexes are published in addition to the annual indexes. Subscriptions are made at Lovdata.
Lover vedtatt på det ... ordentlige storting, is published at the end of each Parliamentary session (annually). It includes the formal text of new statute laws in addition to amendments of old laws.
The most comprehensive Norwegian code of law is Norges Lover, which is published privately by The Faculty of Law in Oslo. It is issued biennially in one volume, and contains both a systematic and an alphabetic index. The code contains The Constitution of 1814, and presents statutory laws arranged chronologically according to their date of adoption. A supplementary volume containing acts passed in the year between publications of the main editions has been published since 1992.
Amendments to statutory laws and provisions are adopted in new editions of Norges Lover. They are incorporated in the existing statute with a footnote referring to the amendment. Norges Lover also contains indexes of regulations authorised under each statutory provision. Norges Lover is used by lawyers and judges, and of course also other people who are interested in Norwegian law.
The annotated edition of Norges Lover was previously called Karnov. Norsk kommentert lovsamling, now Norsk Lovkommentar, and was first issued in 1994. It consists of three volumes and contains two indexes: a chronological index of all statutes in Karnov, and an alphabetical index, based on the abbreviated titles of the statutes. It also points to the standardized abbreviations of the separate statutes. The latest paper edition was published in 2005. Norsk Lovkommentar is also available on CD-Rom and on Internet. The electronic version is updated six times a year.
Updated pamphlets are issued when required. A selection of prominent Norwegian authors, scientists, solicitors, judges and lawyers have all contributed to this project. The Norwegian edition is modelled on the Danish Karnov commentary issue, which has been published since the 1930's. The commentary edition is published bi-annually, and like Norges lover it is also arranged chronologically, based on the resolution dates of the statutes.
The text in Norges Lover and Karnov, Norsk lovkommentar, is supplied by LOVDATA, a semi-official, legal information database. By agreement with the authorities, LOVDATA receives the statutes as soon as they have been enacted. Consequently, LOVDATA always provides an updated electronic version of Norwegian laws. Institutions and individuals may obtain access to LOVDATA by subscribing. LOVDATA also provides an internet version free of charge, but this offer is limited to statutes, regulations in force and recent Court decisions.
Norwegian laws are referred to by title and date. If more than one law is passed on a specific date, which frequently happens, each law is also given a number. E.g.: Lov om arv m.m. av 3. mars 1972 nr 5 (Law of inheritance of March 3 1972 no 5). Sometimes an abbreviated title is used, with or without the date number, e.g. Arveloven av 3. mars 1972 nr 5, (The inheritance law of March 3rd, 1972 no 5), or just Arveloven. In literature authors often refer to laws using additional abbreviations. Arveloven would then be referred to just as al. The authors usually include a list of abbreviations in the book. To trace an abbreviation, also use the index to Norsk lovkommentar or to Lassen 1993.
Translation of Norwegian legislation:
Very few acts of Stortinget are translated into other languages. A translated collection is found in the book Norwegian laws etc. : selected for The Foreign Service (1980).
The Constitution of May 17th 1814, with amendments and commentaries, exists in English as a title of its own (Andenæs/Wilberg 1987) (The Constitution of Norway : a Commentary / by Mads T. Andenæs and Ingeborg Wilberg (1987)). Over the years a number of statutes have been translated into English; some by The Foreign Office's department of translations, some by other public offices, and a few by private organizations. These translations do not have status as public translations, and they are seldom published as registered printed papers.
In recent years the Faculty of Law Library, University of Oslo has experienced an increasing demand for translations of Norwegian legislation. Documents of this kind have been difficult to obtain and there has been no public agency responsible for maintaining a current collection of available translations. The Faculty of Law Library therefore decided to undertake the task of maintaining a database, Translated Norwegian legislation, where translations of Norwegian legislation (acts and/or regulations) were made accessible to the public.
Most entries have links to the acts in full text, either as html, word-files or in PDF-format. Electronic versions are not available for all acts. For some printed versions there are links to bibliographic records in BIBSYS.
In addition, many codes cover specific legal areas aimed at special professions or special educational purposes.
Norwegian Law Titles. Inventory in "Norwegian Laws" (Norske lovtitler. Fortegnelse over lover trykt i Norges Lover) 1685-1993 (Strømø 1994) is primarily addressed to Norwegian libraries. It contains a chronological survey of laws with full titles and Dewey library classification numbers, systematically arranged and including an index of abbreviated law titles.
Forskrifter (regulations) are rules issued by the central administration under powers given to them in Acts of Parliament. They are published continuously by LOVDATA in Norsk Lovtidende, which contains several comprehensive indexes. LOVDATA is always up to date on all regulations in force, but availability depends on user access. The five latest publications of Norsk Lovtidende are available on the LOVDATA home page. A regulation is referred to by title and date of enactment.
A selection of special periodicals is also published, e.g. Konkurranse published by Konkurransetilsynet (The Norwegian Competition Authority). In 1994 Konkurransetilsynet published Konkurranseregler for foretak i EØS. Regelsamling (Competition Rules for Enterprises within the European Economic Area. Collection of Rules). It contains extracts of the EEA Agreement and its protocols, as well as current regulations within competition law. The last printed version of Regulations in Norway (Norges forskrifter) (2nd ed. 1989) is a collection of regulations compiled in nine volumes and consists of all valid regulations made by the 17 ministries. Special collections containing laws, regulations and circulars within limited legal fields also exist.
Circulars are instructions from superior administrative agencies to their subordinates. They may contain directives and guidelines on the interpretation of statutes and the use of public discretion.
Acts of law are organized according to their date of enactment, not when they entered into force. The main provisions are often old, but amendments are usually integrated in the existing statutes. The Storting only passes completely new Acts abolishing the old law when comprehensive and fundamental changes are made.
Civil procedure:
Criminal law:
Other important statute laws:
A link from the English title indicates that an English version exists and where to find it. For the Norwegian version, click the Norwegian title.
For other translated statutes and regulations, please make a search from the website Translated Norwegian legislation.
Within some areas of law, separate committees are constantly working on law revision efforts. In other areas, special committees are appointed to prepare propositions for specific amendments. The Legislation Department at The Ministry of Justice and the Police administers the law revision.
In many years Norsk Lovkommentar containing annotations to different statutes in force was in great use. It has also been common practice to publish special commentary books on important acts. These special editions have often been more in detail than Norsk Lovkommentar. In the late years, we have got the netbased oppslags- og referanseverk in law (also called Norsk Lovkommentar) , which contains all Norwegian laws with commentaries. 230 renowned judges and legal scholars are contributors. You can get printed versions of the whole or a special selected law with commentaries.
Norges traktater (Norwegian treaties) (1967-88) is the main source of International treaties ratified by Norway. It is published in five volumes, the last volume containing the ever important index. The collection contains most of the treaty texts organised chronologically in both Norwegian and language of origin, whether English, German or French.
Overenskomster med fremmede stater (Treaties with foreign governments) (1883) is a continous publication of the International treaties and sets of rules Norway participate in.
Important treaties are occasionally collected and issued, e.g. for students' purposes: Folkerettslige tekster: samling med opplysninger til studiebruk (1995) (Texts pertaining to International law: a collection of information for use during studies) by Erik Møse is such a collection.
4. Law Reports, Judgments
Case law is an important source in Norwegian law, in particular the judgments of Høyesterett which all are published in Norsk Retstidende, 1836-. This collection is considered the official minutes of The Norwegian Supreme Court. Most of the court decisions are reported in full, and in the case of dissenting votes, the arguments of the minority are also published.
Furthermore, the report contains extracts of decisions made by the Supreme Court's Committee on Appeals. The Norwegian Bar Association edits Norsk Retstidende (abbr. Rt) in cooperation with the Supreme Court which also contains head note summaries, as well as annual and 5 year indexes. (The editor, currently Pål A. Bertnes, makes a head note summary for each published verdict and is responsible for making annual and 5 year indexes to the collection of reports.) These contain keywords, systematic and alphabetic indexes with references to the headings, a list of statutes and a list of names for civil law cases. Decisions are referred to by year of publication and the designated page number: e.g.: Rt 1994 s. 1063 (s is abbr. for "page").
Each decision is assigned a reference number (to the above mentioned decision: ref. no 113 B/1994), and these are also used in some connections.
A selection of decisions by subordinate courts; the District Courts, City Courts and High Courts, is published in Rettens Gang (1933 -), (abbr. RG) and published by The Norwegian Bar Association. The Editor decides which cases have sufficiently broad and fundamental interest to be included in the collection, and also performs the task of making the headings and indexes (as described above). A reference to RG may look like this: RG 1994 s. 334. In literature, the name of the court, is often mentioned, alternatively its abbreviation, in addition to the reference to RG year and page.
The two law reports mentioned are both published in installments approximately twice a month. For unpublished legal decisions, contact the Court in question stating the date and case number. A copy of the decision will be issued against a fee.
Other sources are also available:
Some special court reports are also published, among these are:
All of these collections have annual and cumulative indexes. Many publishers also edit case books of selected decisions within limited legal areas, partly to be used for educational purposes at the universities, partly intended for practitioners. These reports are all in Norwegian only.
Norwegian legal journals and reports often refer to, mention and quote specific legal decisions. For additional information, see the section "Current Information Sources".
The practice of public administrative agencies is often referred to and relied on by the Courts. This applies especially to tax legislation, and Decisions and rulings etc in tax issues (Dommer, uttalelser m.v. i skattesaker og skattespørsmål) (1922-) is an important collection. The Ombudsman's annual report is another publication on public administrative practice. It appears annually as Document no 4 in volume 5 of Stortingsforhandlingene.
Juridisk nettviser, the gateway to law, contains links to several bodies exercising administrative practice.
The Legislative Department at The Ministry of Justice and Police publishes several types of documents:
Norwegian Official Reports are made by committees and work groups appointed by the Ministry.
Reports and plans are usually made by external researchers or a committee, and include reports, analysis and surveys delivered to the Ministry.
An annual collection of legal interpretations from: Lovavdelingens Uttalelser.
The custom of private parties is of less importance today than before. Usage is, however, still an important source of law within certain areas, e.g. within commercial law other than contract law and in relation to usufruct. Some of the private conflict solving bodies publishes their decisions. Amongst these are "Avkortningsnemnda" (The Board concerned with the reduction of insurance), "Forsikringsskadenemnda" (Committee of Insurance Damages) and "Bankklagenemnda" (The Board of complaints for consumers in banking and finance matters). Decisions made by these three committees are also published electronically by LOVDATA, as are reports by several other organizations.
5. Computer-Based Systems of Basic Legal Texts
LOVDATA is an independent private foundation, established in 1981 by the Ministry of Justice and the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo and cooperates with the public authorities in making a Norwegian legal information system available on line. The free based edition of LOVDATA contains several online information systems. Lovdata itself covers all updating expenses. In recent years Lovdata has covered all expenses in connection with establishing new databases.
Lovdata's main activities are:
Norsk Lovkommentar (earlier Karnov: norsk kommentert lovsamling) contains all Norwegian laws with commentaries and with possibilities to links directly to sited court decision and other laws that are quoted. 230 renowned judges and legal scholars are contributors. You can get printed versions of the whole or a special selected law with commentaries.
Law librarians at the law faculties of the universities in Oslo, Bergen, and Tromsø have created Juridisk Nettviser, an Internet gateway to online legal information. This tool, available at juridisk.net/, facilitates access to Norwegian, foreign, and international legal sources that are available on the Internet. Links to Norwegian sources are organized in the following categories: Constitutional Documents, Laws and regulations, Departmental circulars and other regulations, Preparatory works, Case law, Other practice, Commentary. Each category provides descriptions of works found in a variety of databases, including Lovdata, Stortinget, and ODIN.
When interpreting a law, its history and background may often be of useful help. Preparatory works have particular importance when interpreting new laws or areas of law where there is limited legal practice.
As regards preparatory work for regulations, the different ministries file notres and documents, but these are seldom of any importance.
Usually the legislative process is initiated either by the Government or one of the political parties represented in Parliament. If an important law, an expert committee is appointed to consider its necessity and to make suggestions to its contents. Committee reports are usually published as NOUs (on line yearly from 1994, and a few from earlier year) in the publication series Norges offentlig utredninger (1972 - ). Cumulative indexes are published regularly. Innstillinger og betenkninger (1935-72) was made prior to the NOU series. Indexes to all NOUs and reports since 1814 are found in a special microfilm edition called Norske utredninger 1814-1991 (1992).
The next stage is the hearing; the committee report is circulated among relevant national bodies and institutions that submit their opinions on the matter. Then the responsible ministry prepares a bill which the Government submits to the Odelsting as a proposition, called Odelstingsproposisjon (proposition to the Odelsting, abbr: Ot.prp.) which is the basis for debates in the Storting. The Odelstingsproposisjon and the documents containing the minutes of Storting debates are published in Stortingsforhandlinger, a comprehensive parliamentary series issued in 9 volumes. It also contains white papers and government documents.
The preparatory documents of Norwegian acts are assembled in Forarbeid til lovene. This publication contains all Storting documents about the Bill at the time of its enactment. It contains Odelstingsproposisjoner (Ot.prp.), recommendations to the Odelsting, debates of the Odelsting and Lagting, in addition to previous preparatory work which today mainly consists of NOUs.
When a statute is published in Norsk Lovtidende, references are made to relevant preparatory work.
Unlike many other countries, no collective work of Norwegian legal sources exists. The most comprehensive work is Norsk lovkommentar described above. It contains statute laws with annotations, in addition to links to referred case law.
The Reference Book on Law, Juridisk oppslagsbok, is published in one volume: part I: Civil law, and part II: Administrative law, both edited by Pål A. Bertnes (1997). The references are arranged alphabetically by keywords and sub keywords and provide references to literature, books and papers, statutes and case law. Juridisk oppslagsbok does not deal with criminal law, tax law, constitutional law or procedure law.
6. Reference Books
The Norwegian Bar Association has more than 6000 members, and about 94 percent of the attorneys in Norway are members of the Association.
Juridisk nettviser contains links to several similar directories.
Information about the Ministries is available in English and includes information on the separate government ministries, their departments and individuals in charge.
Guide to Nordic Bibliography (Munch-Petersen 1984-1988) is a descriptive guide in English covering the Nordic countries.
The Norwegian National Bibliography, Norsk bokfortegnelse, is the most comprehensive bibliographic tool from 1814 onwards (Universitetsbiblioteket i Oslo, 1870-1997, Nasjonalbiblioteket 1997 - last Year 2002). The databases of the Norwegian National Bibliography Norbok contain references to Norwegian books, journals, maps, dissertations, audio, sheet music, online and offline resources. The databases cover various periods from 1921 onwards. CD-ROM is available for the period 1941-2000.
The database Norwegian List of Serials Norper contains references to journals, microforms, newspapers mainly from 1970 onwards.
The database Norwegian Index to Periodical Articles Norart covers references to articles from about 400 Norwegian journals, mainly from 1982 onwards.
Norwegian Union Catalogue of Monographs Sambok containing 3.685.000 references to books, theses, audio, video and online resources held in app. 400 Norwegian libraries. About one half of the included material is printed after 1983. Available on CD-ROM 1939-2000.
Norwegian Union Catalogue for Periodicals Samper (Norsk samkatalog for periodika) containing references to periodical subscriptions in approx. 350 Norwegian libraries.
BIBSYS Library and Information Systems offers services to all Norwegian University Libraries, the National Library, all college libraries and a number of research libraries.
The BIBSYS Library Database is the union catalogue of the above-mentioned libraries and contains bibliographic information of their holding: books, periodicals, maps, music as well as electronic resources such as e-journals and e-books (about 3.5 million records, 9 million copies).
BIBSYS Ask is the open access catalogue that allows users to search for documents in the following databases:
The BIBSYS Library Database- all holdings or holdings of one of the libraries, i.g. UBO. Det juridiske fakultetsbibliotek (the Faculty of Law library of the University of Oslo)
BIBSYS ForskDok database contains information about Research & Development (R&D) projects, publications and other R&D-results from Norwegian research institutions.
BIBSYS Emneportal , different subject gateways.
Users with a patron ID may order loan or copies of documents. Logged on users
may access their personal user information, renew loans and schedule searches
to be performed on specific dates.
Frida is the system used by the Norwegian universities for research documentation. Frida consists of one module for research results, and a register over the researchers' competence.
Among the many International law bibliographies covering Nordic law, three need to be mentioned:
Kirsten Lothe Jacobsen: Norwegian law in foreign languages, a bibliography. It was first published in 2004 and is often updated.
The Scandinavian Legal Bibliography (Iuul et al. 1961) contains references to older literature, while Bibliographisches Handbuch der Rechts- und Verwaltungswissenschaften: Band 1: Allgemeines und Europa (Lansky 1987) is a more recent International bibliography.
Only one general Norwegian law bibliography exists, and it covers the period 1962-1966: Haukaas, Kaare (1967) Norsk juridisk Litteratur 1962-1966. Oslo, Universitetsforlaget. The Faculty of Law Library in Oslo is currently working on a bibliography covering the years after 1966. As frequent users of Nordic law literature we have always envied Sweden, Finland and especially Denmark their bibliographic publications within the field of law. However, some smaller special bibliographies exist: Norwegian legal publications in English, French and German up to 1965, (Haukaas 1966) with a supplementary volume for the period 1966 -1977 (Haukaas 1977).
International journal of legal information is a bibliography of Nordic legal literature written in English, German, French and Italian languages 1982 - 1992 (Haider 1993) and it is available online for member libraries.
Halvor Kongshavn has prepared a bibliography on the contents of Norwegian festschriften (Kongshavn 1991, with an addition in 1994). He has also published A bibliography of articles in non Scandinavian languages 1963-1993 in Norwegian legal festschriften (1994). Hanne Strømø and Halvor Kongshavn have published Nordisk juridisk festskriftbibliografi (Ad Notam Gyldendal, 1998) and Nordic legal festschriften (Juridisk fakultetsbibliotek, 1999).
In 2003, Halvor Kongshavn published Nordisk juridisk festskriftbibliografi : innholdet i juridiske festskrift fra Danmark, Finland, Island, Norge og Sverige : 1998-2002 (Gyldendal, 2003)
Bibliographies on individual works, which may be found in Festschriften, may provide an easy access to relevant literature.
Kjersti Selberg has published Eldre norske rettskilder (Norwegian only). Kirsten Al-Araki: Nordisk sjørettsbibliografi 1880-1998 ( Al-Araki, 2000) (Nordic Bibliography of the Law at Sea 1880-1998).
In most festschrifts, one finds a bibliography of the person to whom the festschrift is dedicated. Because most festschrifts are about well known legal researchers, and the festschrifts are published at the end of their career, these books are often important access to legal literature.
Kjersti Selberg has published an extensive bibliography on tax laws covering the period after 1945: Norsk skatterett 1945-1988 (Selberg 1990).
A bibliography of publications made by academic staff at the Faculty of Law, University of Bergen, was prepared in connection with the Faculty's 25th anniversary in 1994 (Jacobsen 1994).
Juridisk oppslagsbok (1997) (The Reference book on Law) contains references to books and articles.
Praktisk rettskildelære. Juridisk informasjonssøking. (Bertnes/Kongshavn 2005) (Textbook on sources of legal information, legal information retrieval in Norway, international law and European law). The textbook gives directions on how to find statutes, case law and law literature, both in paper and online. Praktisk rettskildelære is on Internet in a short version.
BibJure is an electronic library system developed especially for Norwegian Lawyers and court of justices by Diagnostica. It contains a database of references to law literature, mainly Norwegian and Nordic titles, legal articles in series and articles in Nordic legal Festschriften. Pål A. Bertnes has developed the legal part of the database; containing a detailed index with a keyword register to the index. The systematics is used in Norges Lover, Norsk Retstidende and Rettens Gang.
7. Indexing and Abstracting Services
The National Library was affiliated with the University of Oslo Library until 1995. It has a selection of Norwegian periodicals, including the most important legal periodicals. The periodicals are indexed, and the database Norart is today free of charge. The literature database of LOVDATA also includes law articles from Norart. BibJure analyses legal periodicals seeking to cover all legal articles in Norwegian periodicals, festschrifts and anthologies. Information about contents in Norwegian legal periodicals are published periodically in Norsk Retstidende (Rt).
All of the Norwegian legal publications issue annual indexes. The most important publications also issue general indexes, which are cumulated over long periods (see below). As to the collections of case law in Rt and RG, cumulated 5 year indexes are issued besides the annual ones. The Faculty of Law Library is involved in several bibliographic projects.
JURIDISK NETTVISER contains links to dictionaries available on the Internet. Important published Norwegian law dictionaries are:
Both provide short explanations in Norwegian of selected legal terms in alphabetical order.
A special dictionary exists in Dictionary of International Agreements with Norwegian, English and French Terminology (Leksikon om internasjonale kontrakter: med norsk, engelsk og fransk terminologi) (Rigault 1992).
A few dictionaries are made to help foreign lawyers understand Norwegian legal terms.
English:
Stor norsk-engelsk juridisk ordbok: med engelsk-norsk register (Great Norwegian-English law dictionary: whith English-Norwegian register) (Craig 1999).
French:
Fransk-norsk juridisk oppslagsbok = Lexique juridique Franco-Norvégien (Fife 1991),
Franske fagtermer: fransk-norsk/norsk-fransk ordbok over vanlig brukte ord og uttrykk i samfunnslivet (Schlyter/Nordli/Hustad 1987)
German:
Deutsch-Norwegisches Juristisches Wörterbuch (Simonnæs 1992)
A collection of links to dictionaries are found in Juridisk nettviser : dictionaries. Lately, some dictionaries have been issued to assist Norwegian lawyers translate into other languages.
These may also be of interest to foreigners:
8. Current Information Sources
8.1 Journals, Research Reports, News Information
The Norwegian Bar Association publishes Advokatbladet with information about lawyers and short articles about recent legislation and case law. It also contains a separate section of news about legal sources.
The other important association of Norwegian lawyers, Norges Juristforbund (Norwegian Association of Lawyers), publishes Juristkontakt and is available online. Besides information about the association itself, the journal also consists of relatively short scholarly articles. Both publications are issued monthly, and are up to date.
Law journals (printed versions and the 12 first mentioned also in full text in IDUN, a pay-database from Universitetsforlaget, Aschehoug og Gyldendal Akademisk):
The separate Faculties of Law at the universities of Oslo, Bergen and Tromsø all issue separate monograph series.
Many issues of the series Marius issued by The Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law and Complex from The Norwegian Research Centre for Computers and Law, both The Faculty of Law in Oslo, are written in English.
Eurorett is a guide to new EC and EEA rules and legal decisions of importance to Norway. It is issued every fortnight by LOVDATA, in cooperation with Centre for European Law at the University of Oslo.
The main supplier of statistics in Norway is the public institution Statistics Norway, which publishes weekly, monthly and annual statistics within most areas of society, including law and legal institutions, education, trade and business. The statistics are written in both Norwegian and English. The institution also publishes the annual series Statistical Yearbook of Norway containing updated information about the Norwegian society. Both contents and detailed index are written in English and Norwegian. (The institution has issued a separate Guide to Norwegian Statistics.) All public institutions are obliged to supply Statistics Norway with statistics. Some information is also available in German, French and Spanish.
9. The Faculty of Law Library at the University of Oslo
The Faculty of Law Library (UJUR) is a section of the University of Oslo Library (UBO) and consists of the Main Library, the Learning Centre and seven Institute Libraries. It is the largest of the three Norwegian University Law Libraries. Students and external users that would like to use the collections of the Institute Libraries are asked to address themselves to the Main Library. The Library has a permanent staff of 20, of which 17 are librarians. In addition to the head of the library, two of the librarians have a law degree. Besides the permanent staff the library engages about 15 law students.
The collections of all the libraries are regarded as one, in spite of decentralized book arrangements. Responsibility for the acquisition of literature is divided between the Institute Libraries and the Main Library.
The Library aims at having a complete collection of all Norwegian and important Scandinavian legal literature as well as relevant legal literature from other European countries, EU and USA. The Library also procures literature from related fields such as legal history, philosophy of law, sociology of law, political science and criminology.
Library holdings:
The books (monographs) are arranged systematically, by subject. The classification scheme used is called an L-scheme. It is a numerical system, each number representing a subject area. The most general subjects are given the lowest classification numbers, e.g. jurisprudence is classified from 1 to 107, while private law has numbers from 108 to 637, public law from 638 to 1127 and so forth. The L-scheme serves the purpose of classifying and shelving documents according to subject.
The collections are registered in the BIBSYS Library database (Union catalogue for Norwegian University Libraries, the National Library, all college libraries and a number of research libraries). The titles belonging to the Faculty of Law Library are placed under the heading: UBO. Det juridiske fakultetsbibliotek.
All the libraries have lending collections in addition to reference collections. Books published prior to 1850 do not circulate. Journals do not circulate, except for a small collection in the Main Library.
The lending period in the Main library:
Students and external users: 3 weeks