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UPDATE: Swedish Law and Legal Materials
By Sofia Sternberg
Sofia Sternberg is a law librarian at the Law Library in Uppsala, which is part of Uppsala University Library. She has a law degree as well as a master’s degree in library and information science, and has practised law for five years before becoming a librarian. She is mainly involved in library instruction for students and is also responsible for the library’s European documentation centre.
Published September 2011
See the archive version!
(Previously
updated by Ingrid Kabir on May 2007; and by By Ingrid Kabir and Sofia Sternberg on November 2009)
Table of Contents
The Swedish Legal System – Historical Background
Preparatory Legislative Materials
The Court System and Reports of Cases
General Publications in English
The Swedish legal system has its roots in the continental legal tradition with its dependence on statutory law. During the 12th-14th century there was a development in Scandinavia from regional laws, Landskapslagar, to central legislation, for example the national laws initiated by the Swedish king Magnus Eriksson dated about 1350. There was close communication between scholars of Sweden and the European continent in the 18th 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:
This arrangement can still be found in the comprehensive edition of The Law Book (in Swedish Sveriges Rikes Lag) published by Norstedts Juridik, with the later addition of the Parental Code (1949), the Environmental Code (1998) and the Social Insurance Code (2010).
The fundamental laws of Sweden are the following: The Instrument of Government, the Act of Succession, the Freedom of the Press Act and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression. The acts, which form the Swedish Constitution, are available in English on the website of the Swedish Parliament. See also the publication “The constitution of Sweden – the fundamental laws and the Riksdag Act”, with an introduction by Erik Holmberg and Nils Stjernquist, Riksdagen 2007.
The Parliamentary Ombudsmen (JO) are elected by The Riksdag according to Chapter 13, article 6 of The Instrument of Government. They supervise the application of laws and other regulations in the public service. The Ombudsmen investigate complaints from the general public, as well as conducting inquiries on their own initiative. A selection of adjudications can be found on their website, some of them in English. The website also includes a bibliography on literature about the Parliamentary Ombudsmen.
The rules governing Sweden’s relations with other states and international organisations are found in Chapter 10 of The Instrument of Government. Sweden has been a member of the European Union since 1995, which has greatly influenced the development of Swedish law.
Sweden’s international agreements are published in the Swedish Treaties Series, Sveriges internationella överenskommelser (SÖ). The series is available online on the website of the Swedish Government (1994- ). International agreements need to be incorporated into national law. For example, the European Convention on Human Rights has been incorporated through Swedish legislation in 1994 (SFS 1994:1219) and is frequently referred to in the national courts.
There are four main sources of Swedish law: legislation, preparatory legislative materials, case law and literature. The legislation is the primary source, while the other three are used to interpret the law in a specific case. The importance of preparatory documents in interpreting the law is unique for Sweden. However, as the law grows older more importance is attributed to the case law from the supreme courts.
Acts and ordinances are published in The Swedish Code of Statutes since 1825. The Swedish title is “Svensk 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 Norstedts Juridik. Another one-volume set is “Sveriges lagar” published annually by Karnov Group (formerly Thomson Reuters).
Swedish legislation translated into English can be found on the website of the Swedish Government.
Some legislation in English is also published in the Ministry publications series (Ds), for example the Swedish Penal Code (Ds 1999:36), the Local Government Act (Ds 2000:72 and Ds 2004:31), the Bankruptcy Act (Ds 1998:41), the Swedish Environmental Code (Ds 2000:61), the Swedish Code of Judicial Procedure (Ds 1998:65) and the Swedish Arbitration Act (Ds 1999:22).
There are also some printed collections of Swedish legislation translated into English, for example Swedish land and cadastral legislation (1998) and Swedish commercial legislation (loose-leaf, Norstedts Juridik).
See also Swedish statutes in translation (Ds 2001:7), which contains a list of published translations of Swedish statutes. The translations are mostly in English, but some are also available in other languages. With all translations of Swedish statutes it is important to observe that the translations do not necessarily represent the latest version of the legislation.
To identify the relevant preparatory documents you need to know something about how Swedish laws are made. First, a commission of inquiry is appointed by the government, with an instruction on which legal area to investigate. The commission gives a report containing a detailed description of the proposed law, including a background on the current legal situation in this particular area. The report is published in either of the series SOU (Statens Offentliga Utredningar = Swedish Government Official Reports) or Ds (Departementsserien = Ministry Publications Series), depending on the type of commission.
The report is then circulated to concerned parties, for example courts and other public authorities, for comment. After considering the report with comments, the responsible ministry gives a government bill (called proposition), containing the proposed law with a detailed explanatory statement. The parliament (Riksdag) considers this proposal in one of its committees, which gives a report (utskottsbetänkande) with their comments. Finally, the law is passed through a vote in parliament.
A summary (in Swedish) of the preparatory documents for a particular law can be found in the law journal Nytt juridiskt arkiv, part II (1876-), which covers a selection of important laws. The Government bill (proposition) is the most important preparatory document when interpreting the law. However, if the parliament has had a different opinion on some point in their report, the government bill is overruled in this part.
Some preparatory documents translated into English can be found on the website of the Swedish Government. Otherwise the preparatory documents are mostly available in Swedish only, however, many Government Official Reports (SOU) do have summaries in English.
There are 48 judicial districts, each one with a District Court (Tingsrätt). Five of the District Courts are also Land and Environment Courts. The reports of the district courts are available only at the archive of the district court itself, although a few are available through online subscription services. There are six Courts of Appeal (Hovrätt). The Supreme Court (Högsta domstolen, HD) 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. Reports of cases from the Supreme Court are published in the journal: Nytt juridiskt arkiv: Avd. I. The journal has been published by the publisher Norstedt since 1874. Cases from the Supreme Court are also available on the website of the Court since 2003. A selection of cases from the Courts of Appeal is published in Rättsfall från hovrätterna (RH, 1980- ). The latter cases are not considered as precedents, but they can nevertheless be of guidance to the district courts. A general description of the Swedish Judiciary is available in English at the website of the National Courts Administration (Sveriges Domstolar). There are no official translations of cases from Swedish courts.
There are 12 county administrative courts (Förvaltningsrätt). Three of them are also Migration Courts. As with the district courts, the reports are available at the archives of the court, or (for a few, selected cases) through online subscription services. There are four administrative courts of appeal (Kammarrätt) and one Supreme Administrative Court (Högsta Förvaltningsdomstolen, formerly Regeringsrätten). There are no longer any official publications for the administrative courts of appeal (although the newer ones are often available online). The case law of the Supreme Administrative Court is published in Regeringsrättens årsbok (RÅ/HFD).
Besides the general and administrative courts there are also three special courts. The Labour Court (Arbetsdomstolen) and the Market Court (Marknadsdomstolen) both have their own collections of cases, Arbetsdomstolens domar (1929- ) and Marknadsdomstolens avgöranden (1971- ). Some cases on labour law, translated into English, can be found in the book “Swedish labour and employment law – cases and materials” by Ronnie Eklund, Tore Sigeman and Laura Carlson, Iustus 2008. The Court of Patent Appeals (Patentbesvärsrätten) reviews decisions by the Patent and Registration Office.
General Publications in English
· Collin, P. H. English law dictionary: engelsk-svensk-engelsk (English-Swedish-English). Esselte, 1989.
· Hellberg, Olle. Juridikordbok – fransk-svensk och svensk-fransk , med begreppsförklaringar = Lexique juridique : français-suédois et suédois-français avec des explications de conception, 2nd ed. Norstedt, 1983.
· Martinger, Sven. Juridikordbok – svensk-engelsk fackordbok (Swedish-English), 4 th ed. Norstedts juridik, 2004
· Swedish/English English/Swedish glossary for the courts of Sweden. Sveriges Domstolar, 2010.
The most comprehensive printed bibliographies on Swedish legal literature are written by Regner and published by Norstedts Juridik. They are called Svensk juridisk litteratur (Swedish legal literature), Rättspraxis i litteraturen (Case law in literature) and Regeringsrättens avgöranden i litteraturen (The decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court in literature). The first publication contains references to Swedish literature (books and articles) divided into different legal areas. In the other two bibliographies you can search by case number and get references for literature commenting on that specific case.
The literature in all the Swedish university libraries can be searched through the national library catalogue LIBRIS. LIBRIS also contains the Swedish National Bibliographic Databases.
Swedish official publications from the 17th century-1833 can be searched through the online bibliography Swedish Hand Press Publications, also a part of LIBRIS. Digitization is currently in progress. For more historical documents, see also the National Archival Database of Sweden.
DIVA portal and SwePub are finding tools for research publications and student theses written at universities and colleges of higher education in Sweden, including full text material.
A general commentary on Swedish legislation is Karnov – svensk lagsamling med kommentarer, published by Karnov Group. There are several more in-depth commentaries on particular laws; most noted are the ones published by Norstedts Juridik (in Swedish). Many of those, as well as Karnov, are also available online through subscription services. There are very few books available in English on particular Swedish laws, but one example is “The Swedish Companies Act [with the act in translation] – an introduction” by Rolf Skog and Catarina Fäger, Norstedts Juridik 2007.
The major legal publishers are:
In the yearbook Scandinavian Studies in Law, legal scholars present reviews of legal developments within the Scandinavian countries. The yearbook is published under the auspices of The Faculty of Law at Stockholm University and the Stockholm Institute for Scandinavian Law. It is also available online through the American subscription service HeinOnline (1957-2003). References to the yearbook contributions are included in the Index to foreign legal periodicals, published by the American Association of Law Libraries, as well as the Swedish service InfoTorg Juridik.
Other titles include:
There is an official gateway to all Swedish legal information called “Lagrummet”. From this gateway there are links to legal sources from government, parliament, courts and government agencies.
Full text of the Swedish Code of Statutes is available in the database of the Swedish Parliament called “Dokument. Sveriges riksdag”. This database also provides texts of government bills, committee reports, proposals from members of the parliament and minutes of debates. There is an English language version of the web site of the Swedish Parliament, but most of the legal documents are in Swedish.
A selection of Swedish Statutes in Translation of special interest is issued by the Swedish ministries and can be found on the web site of the Swedish Government. Fact sheets on Swedish government policy are also included.
InfoTorg Juridik provides the oldest publicly available legal database system in Sweden, formerly known as Rättsbanken. It is a full text database containing statutes, case law, preparatory legislative materials and references to legal literature. The database also provides a current awareness tool for news and analysis of developments in Swedish law, formerly known as PointLex.
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 part is only available by subscription.
Zeteo is a legal information system produced by the publisher Norstedts Juridik. It contains statutes, preparatory documents, reports of cases, and texts analysing and commenting on major codes of law. Many of the legal commentaries published by Norstedts Juridik are available online in Zeteo, as well as the legal bibliography Rättspraxis i litteraturen.
Karnov Group provides a database containing case law, government bills and legislation, as well as the general commentary on Swedish statutes called Karnov.
JP Infonet offers 24 different information services, divided into subject areas. It provides a current awareness tool, including statutes, case law and other legal documents as well as legal analysis and commentaries by experts in the field.
Infosoc Rättsdata provides databases containing statutes and case law divided into ten different legal areas.
In addition to the above mentioned Law Schools, there are programmes on Business Law at Linköping University and Jönköping University.