Legal Research in Norway

By Rebecca J. Five Bergstrøm

Rebecca Josefine Five Bergstrøm is an academic librarian at the Law Library of the University of Oslo. She holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Oslo and specializes in research support services. Rebecca has been instrumental in developing legal support services related to research data at the University Library. Over the past five years, she has focused on open research and its legal implications, providing guidance on copyright and data privacy. Rebecca is a published author. She is also a member of the board of directors of the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL) and a member of the LIBER Copyright & Legal Matters Working Group.

Published May/June 2025

(Previously updated by Pål A. Bertnes on December 2009, January 2011, and May 2012 and by Rebecca J. Five Bergstrøm in October 2015 and September/October 2020)

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Research in Norway

Anyone researching Norwegian law must comprehend which sources are applicable and how they relate to each other. Knowledge about the branches of government, especially their roles in the legal system and law-making process, is also essential. Most of the legal sources are only available in one of the two official versions of the Norwegian language, Bokmål and Nynorsk. Acts and regulations of special interest for the Sámi population are translated into Sámi languages, according to the legislation on the Sámediggi and other Sámi rights (Sámi Act). The Sámi Act also regulates when Sámi languages can be used in the courts and in situations related to public administration.

This article serves as an introduction to Norwegian legal sources and where to find them. It does not cover how to assess and apply legal sources to specific legal problems. It introduces the government branches, legal education in Norway, and some key literature, in addition to the primary sources. Links will point to translated sources when available. Otherwise, they will direct to the Norwegian text or source. Please note that the translated sources are not official language versions and are not considered authoritative sources of law.

1.1. Electronic resources

Most of the legal research data and the legal primary sources are available online from different public bodies’ webpages. Two publishers have collected a greater part of the sources in databases which are recommended as starting points for legal research: Lovdata and Gyldendal Rettsdata. In addition to an extensive number of primary sources, they also hold a fair number of secondary sources. Although both databases contain many of the same documents, they do not entirely overlap.

1.1.1. Lovdata

The Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Ministry of Justice founded Lovdata in cooperation in 1981. Now they are a private and financially self-supporting foundation. Lovdata consists of two versions. One version, Lovdata, is free of charge and open to the public, while the other, LovdataPro, requires a subscription.

The free of charge database, Lovdata, provides access in Norwegian to:

A selection of the following sources is available, free of charge, in English. Most of these translations are non-authoritative, except for international material:

  • Norwegian acts (non-authoritative translation)
  • Translated regulations
  • Judgements and decisions, primary from the Supreme Court.

LovdataPro, the subscription database, is, on the other hand, a comprehensive resource of sources of law, such as current and repealed legislation, case law, selected international instruments, administrative practice, and articles in legal journals. It is an essential database for legal students, researchers, and legal practitioners.

The Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo implemented in 2018 LovdataPro’s exam mode as a digital resource for students who had digital exams. As of fall 2019, LovdataPro is an available resource at all legal exams held in Norwegian. All students get training in LovdataPro from the library and student-IT services at the Faculty of Law. When the students’ access LovdataPro with their username and password, they can annotate, cite, and highlight. The students can access their mark-ups, among other things, in exam mode if they keep to the examination rules for using LovdataPro.

The Faculty of Law at the University of Bergen allows LovdataPro in exam mode as an examination support material on all school exams for mandatory courses and elective courses in Norwegian. While, the University of Tromsø has implemented LovdataPro’s exam mode as an available resource on all school exams at the Faculty of Law.

1.1.2. Gyldendal Rettsdata

Gyldendal Rettsdata is a Norwegian subscription database. The database, commonly known as Rettsdata, was established initially as IndexData in 1991. One of the cornerstones of Rettsdata is Norsk Lovkommentar, formerly known as Karnov: Norsk kommentert lovsamling. The Danish Karnov commentary issue, published since the 1930s, is the model for the Norwegian edition. Initially, Karnov: Norsk kommentert lovsamling contained all current Norwegian statutes with commentaries.

Today, Norsk Lovkommentar forms a small part of Rettsdata, which now encompasses much more. Rettsdata includes case law, preparatory works, regulations, various statements and decisions, international sources, standards, and a selection of legal literature. It also features subject collections where relevant sources are organized by topic, along with useful templates and other resources.

Rettsdata is highly valuable for students and researchers. When conducting research, Rettsdata and LovdataPro complement each other due to their varied content.

1.1.3. Gateway to Law

Law librarians at the law faculties of the universities in Oslo, Bergen, and Tromsø created Juridisk Nettviserin, an Internet gateway to legal information, in the 1990s. This tool facilitated access to Norwegian, foreign, and international legal sources that are available on the Internet. The resource has been discontinued as of 2024. Staff at the Law Library in Oslo is working on a solution to republish parts of the database.

1.1.4. Other Information Resources

The official webpages for the governmental branches are central for access to Norwegian Law for the public. The details of the government branches are discussed further below. However, please pay special attention to the following links:

There are other Norwegian legal databases available online. Most of them requires a subscription:

  • Arbeidsrett.no: Database for Labour law
  • Juridika: Commentaries on legislation from Universitetsforlaget. It also includes a subscription to some Norwegian e-books and journals. The journals are also available through Idunn.no, a digital platform for subject and research journals, also published by Universitetsforlaget.
  • Jusleksikon: A legal dictionary with English terms available through Ordnett.no. It is a standard work used by most legal scholars.
  • Historiske dokumenter 1814-2005: Digitized editions of the publication Stortingsforhandlingene.
  • Statsmaktene: Database of digital documents from the government, parliament, and courts, hosted by the National Library.

1.2. The Governmental System – The Short Version

The Norwegian Constitution, Grunnloven, divides the power between three branches of government: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. The executive branch is the government, Regjeringen. The head of the state is, according to article 3 of the Constitution, the King or the Queen Regent. The significant role of the government in the law-making process is to present bills to the Parliament and draw up regulations. The government is led by the Prime Minister and consists of cabinet ministers who are responsible for different ministries.

The legislative branch is the Parliament, the Storting. One of the main functions is to “pass new legislation and amend and repeal existing legislation,” see article 49 and articles 75-79 of the Norwegian Constitution. The judicial branch consists of the courts and has its foundation in chapter D of the Constitution, articles 86-91. The courts will be addressed further in the chapter below. The roles of the Storting and the government in the legislative process will be addressed further in the chapters about legislation and preparatory works.

1.3. Norwegian Courts

The historical development of the judicial system is too diverse to address in detail in this presentation. However, it is useful to note that the Høyesterett, the Supreme Court, previously situated in Denmark, was established in 1815 under the Constitution and opened the 30th of June the same year.

There are three ordinary judicial authorities within the Norwegian court system:

The Supreme Court is the highest legal authority in Norway, see the Norwegian Constitution, article 88. It is seated in Oslo and consists of twenty judges. The Appeal Committee of the Supreme Court decides if an appeal to the Supreme Court can proceed. The committee also decides appeals regarding verdicts and court decisions.

Usually, the court is seated with five judges. Two additional judges can be assigned to a case if the case is time-consuming. A case or a question of law arising from it can be determined to be heard by a grand chamber of eleven judges. The decision depends on whether the Supreme Court may divert from an earlier precedent or if the case raises questions of conflicts between laws, provisional statutory instruments, or parliamentary decisions and the Constitution or treaties to which Norway is a party. The court can decide in exceptional cases that a case or a question of law arising from the case should be heard by all twenty judges sitting in a plenary session.

According to the Court of Justice Act, Domstolloven, article 5, some cases shall, if stated by law, be decided by the Appeal Committee. In those cases, the court is seated by only three judges. The primary function of the courts is obviously to solve disputes. Also, the Supreme Court has the power of constitutional review and, with the system of case law and judicial precedents, it is also a foremost interpreter of the statute and customary law.

Some court-like bodies have the authority to settle specific conflicts in addition to the courts mentioned above:

Conciliation boards are, in some cases, the first instance in the court system. Proceedings before the consolidation board is regulated in chapter six of the Dispute Act. The board have the competency to hear civil cases with the limitations described in the Dispute Act § 6-2. A list of the Norwegian Courts, alphabetically organized, is available from the Norwegian court’s website and provides contact information and links to the different web pages of the courts.

The Norwegian legal system is a civil law system. Legislation is one of the central sources of law. Torstein Eckhoff (1916-1993), a highly esteemed legal scholar and author within the subject of Norwegian sources of legal theory, listed seven sources of law that can be applied (Eckhoff (2001) s. 22): legislation, preparatory works of the acts, other background material relating to the legislative process and subsequent legislative history, case law, administrative practice, customs, conceptions of law as expressed in legal literature, and equitable considerations.

International legal sources are central sources, in addition to the national sources, due to Norway’s international obligations. For instance, Norway has implemented several human rights treaties through the Human Rights Act of 1999 (Lov om styrking av menneskerettighetenes stilling i norsk rett (menneskerettsloven)). Another example is the EEA-agreement, where Norway is a contracting party. It is implemented in Norwegian law through the EEA Act of 1992 (Lov om gjennomføring i norsk rett av hoveddelen i avtale om Det europeiske økonomiske samarbeidsområde (EØS) m.v. (EØS-loven)). EEA relevant EU-acts are incorporated in the agreement. Thus, different EU sources are relevant within different areas of Norwegian law.

Legal sources from the other Nordic countries can also be relevant to consider, especially in areas where there has been a Nordic law-making collaboration or where there are EU/EEA regulations. Furthermore, it can also be interesting to have a look at how the other Nordic countries have regulated legal matters in the cases where Norway does not have regulations or when there is uncertainty around the result after the interpretation and weighting of the national sources. Ulf Bernitz’ article, What is Scandinavian Law, offers the reader a broader understanding of Scandinavian law as a legal family and its position to other legal systems/families.

There are several unwritten principles regarding sources of law. They serve as guidelines and should be considered when one evaluates a source, such as when determining whether a source is relevant or how to interpret the source and the importance of the norm. The last one is particularly essential regarding the situation of antinomy. Even though there is a relevant legal source, one still must investigate and evaluate if there are other applicable sources and what the result would be if these were applied. In the end, it is necessary to do an overall assessment of the sources at hand before concluding what de lege lata is.

2.1. Legislation

Legislation is divided into three categories with reciprocally different ranks: The Constitution is the highest-ranked, ordinary statutes are subordinate to the constitution, and regulations that acquire their legal authority from statutes are subordinate to the statutes. The ranking has particular importance in the situation of antinomy. The Lex Superior principle states that a source of higher rank shall be applied. The principle also states that a legal rule cannot be changed, deviated from, or made excepted from by a lower-ranked source.

There are several stages in the process of making legislation. The process differs between the different sorts of legislation, but there is some similarity. The Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, is the legislator, either by practising its legislative competence itself or through an official organ which has its competence delegated from the Storting. Further on, all legislation is announced officially in the Norwegian Legal Gazette, Norsk Lovtidend. According to article 1 in Lov om Norsk Lovtidend m.v., the Official Legal Gazette Act, all legislation (including Constitutional provisions, laws and decisions, provisional arrangements, decisions, and what is required by law or pursuant to law) shall be announced in the Norwegian Legal Gazette. Regulations are an example of the last category. Since 2001, the electronic publication of Norsk Lovtidend in Lovdata been considered as a formal announcement. Norsk Lovtidend is available free of charge back to 2001 through Lovdata. Lovdata provides the Norwegian population, and others, easy access to rules and regulations.

2.1.1. The Constitution

The Norwegian Constitution, Grunnloven, is influenced by both the French and the American constitutions, as well as constitutional ideas from Sweden, France and United kingdom. It is founded on the principles of popular sovereignty, separation of powers, and human rights. The Constitution was adopted at Eidsvoll on the 17th of May. The Norwegian Constitution is the second oldest written constitution in the world, only preceded by the U.S. Constitution.

The original text has been revised several times since 1814. It is interesting to take note of the following revisions:

  • The May 6th, 2014, revision was a passing of a total linguistic revision of the Constitution. It resulted in the language of the Constitution becoming up to date. Furthermore, it became available in both two written standards of the Norwegian language, Bokmål and Nynorsk.
  • The revision of the 27th of May 2014 added a chapter, Chapter E, about human rights, which stated that several human rights have a constitutional foundation in Norwegian law. This chapter also contains article 113, which legislates the previous unwritten principle of legality.
  • The 1st of June 2015 revision was where article 89 codified the courts’ right to judicial review if there is antinomy between legislation and the Constitution.
  • The right to local democracy was added to the Constitution on the 31st of March 2016.
  • Article 89 was once again revised on the 14th of May 2020, codifying the right and duty of the courts to evaluate if the use of decisions made during exercise of public authority conflict with the Constitution or other legislation.
  • The Sami people’s position as Indigenous people was constitutionalised in the revision of §108, 15th of May 2023.

The revision procedure of the Constitution, as described in article 121 of the Constitution, differs from other legislation. A motion of a revision must be put forward at the first, second, or third Storting after a parliamentary election. The decision-making authority is held by the first, second, or third Storting after the next parliamentary election, i.e., two compositions of the elected Stortings process the motion. Article 121 states that the “two thirds [sic] of the Storting must agree” and “such an amendment must never, however, contradict the principles embodied in this Constitution.”

Read more about the Constitution on the Stortinget’s webpage.

2.1.2. The Statutes

The Storting passes completely new acts when there are extensive and fundamental changes. Otherwise, the Storting passes an amendment act. All statutes are consolidated, i.e., amendments are adopted in new editions of the code.

Norwegian statutes are published both on print and online. Lovdata publishes all Norwegian legislation in consolidated form, both free of charge and with extra functionality in LovdataPro. Rettsdata also publishes the consolidated statutes behind a paywall.

The most comprehensive printed Norwegian code of law, Norges Lover, was published by Fagbokforlaget up until 2019. Now, after a short break published by the Storting, it is published every other year, with the most recent publication being Norges Lover 1687–2022. Norges Lover contains the Constitution, formally enacted legislation in force, adopted legislation that has yet to take effect, and some pre-1814 legislation that is still in force. The statutes are sorted chronologically in Norges Lover based on their date of enactment. The only exception is that the Constitution of 1814 is in front. Norges Lover has both a systematic and an alphabetic index to ease the use of the work. It is more user-friendly than finding the legislation and possible amendments in different volumes of Norsk Lovtidend.

The formal text of new statutes and amendments to old laws were, until October 1st, 2009, also made available in the Lover vedtatt på det ordentlige Storting. It was published annually, at the end of each Parliamentary session in part 8 of Stortingsforhandlingene. After October 2009, the decisions regarding legislation, lovvedtak, are available from the Storting’s web page.

A typical reference to a Norwegian act would be Act 11. March 2022 no. 9 Act relating to the importation and exportation of goods (Movement of Goods Act). The text in the parentheses is the short title of the statute. Authors often use the short title in the text and the complete reference in the index of legislation.

Translated legislation: The demand for translated Norwegian legislation has increased for several years. There has not been any systematic translation of Norwegian legislation, nor are the translations official or considered an authentic source of law. The University of Oslo Law Library has a database, Translated Norwegian Legislation, where translations of Norwegian legislation, acts, and regulations are made accessible to the public. Most entries have links to the acts in full text, either as HTML, word-files, or PDFs. Electronic versions are not available for all acts. For some printed versions, there are links to bibliographic records. This database is not updated with new entries anymore.

Lovdata launched a database of translated legislation in 2017. It contains seventy-one translations as of December 2024. Keep in mind that the translations in both databases are not necessarily up to date regarding amendments.

Selected central legislation: Below is a list of selected central legislation. A link from the English title indicates the availability and location of an English version. For the Norwegian version, click the Norwegian title. For additional translated statutes and regulations, please refer to the databases Translated Norwegian Legislation and Translated Acts.

2.1.2.1. Civil procedure
2.1.2.2. Criminal Law
2.1.2.3. A selection of other central Acts

2.1.3. Regulations

Regulations, forskrifter, are rules issued by the King in Council or by the central administration under powers granted by the acts of Parliament. According to the Public Administration Act articles 38 and 39, it is required that regulations are published in the Norsk Lovtidend. They are published electronically by Lovdata in Norsk Lovtidend, available free of charge from 1982 onwards. Central regulations are published in Norsk Lovtidend part I, while regional and local regulations are published in part II. Some older regulations, both central and local, are also available free of charge. Subscribers to LovdataPro can access a more considerable number of older regulations.

How to cite a Norwegian regulation (it is referred to by the title and date of enactment): Regulations concerning importation and exportation of goods (Movement of Goods Regulations) of 27. October 2022 nr. 1901.

Translated regulations: Lovdata has a database of translated regulations. It contains sixty-seven central regulations as of December 2024.

2.2. Preparatory Work

Bills are often introduced to the Storting by a member of the government. The ministry responsible for the subject matter oversees the examining and doing the preparative work. It lies on the Storting to pass the bills. A short overview of the legislative procedure is available from the Storting.

Preparatory works to a statute are the official documents produced during the legislative process. In Norwegian legal tradition, the legislator can keep the text of a statute concise because preparatory works play a significant role as a source of law. These works are considered an expression of the legislator’s will and intention. They can be used to supplement legislation or as a basis for interpreting legal texts. It is important to note that different preparatory works carry different weights based on which type they are. For example, newer documents are often more thoroughly prepared than older ones. Additionally, a statement in a preparatory work that has later been contradicted should not necessarily be emphasised.

Moreover, several different documents constitute preparatory works. There are three document types that you should pay extra attention to when interpreting the legal text of the acts: Official Norwegian Reports (NOU), Proposition to the Storting, and recommendation to the Storting.

Researching Norwegian law, you must be observant about the fact that documents regarded as preparatory works differ whether the legislative process was before or after the abolishment of the Odelsting and Lagting on the first of October 2009. Before October 2009, the Storting was organised as a two-chamber system, whereas today it is a one-chamber body.

The old document terms and abbreviations were:

  • NOU – Norges Offentlige utredninger, Official Norwegian Reports. Before 1972, it was known as Innstillinger og betenkninger.
  • Representantlovforslag – draft legislation from a member of Parliament.
  • Ot. Prp. – Odelstingsproposisjoner, Proposition to the Odelsting.
  • Innst. O – Innstilling til Odelstinget, Recommendation to the Odelsting.
  • Ot. Tid. – Debatt i Odelstinget, Debate of the Odelsting.
  • Besl. O. – Beslutning av Odelstinget, Decision of the Odelsting.
  • Lt. Tid. – Debatt i Lagtinget, Debate of the Lagting.
  • Besl. L. – Beslutning av Lagtinget, Decision of the Lagting.

The new document terms and abbreviations are:

  • NOU – Norges Offentlige utredninger, Official Norwegian Reports. Before 1972, it was known as Innstillinger og betenkninger.
  • Prop. L or Prop LS – Proposisjon til Stortinget, Proposition to the Storting.
  • Representantforslag L or Representantforslag LS, Draft legislation from a member of Parliament.
  • Innst. L – Innstilling til Stortinget, the recommendation to the Storting.
  • St. Tid. – Debatt i Stortinget, Debate of the Storting, first reading.
  • Lovvedtak – Passing of the bill.
  • St. Tid. – Debatt i Stortinget, the debate of the Storting, second reading.
  • Lovanmerkning – Comments on the bill.

More information about the documents is available in Norwegian from the Storting website, Nye publikasjonsbetegnelser. Official documents originating from the Storting and the government are published in Stortingsforhandlingene, the proceedings of the Storting. Stortingsforhandlingene was published annually as a nine-part work until 2009. It changed to a seven-part work after 2009. Nowadays, it is only printed in approximately five copies. The documents are all made available online, Saker og publikasjoner – stortinget.no.

Official Norwegian Reports (NOUs) are not published in the proceedings of the Storting. NOUs are publication series containing reports from a committee appointed by the government or a ministry.

Preparatory works published after 1999 are all available free of charge through the Storting’s Norwegian webpage. Those who understand Norwegian can easily follow the legislative process of the different statutes. The NOUs are available free of charge through the government webpage.

Older documents, i.e., documents published before 2005, are available from the Storting’s webpage: Historiske dokumenter 1814-2005. This database was a result of the digitalization project, a cooperation between the National Library and the Storting. It contains all the documents in Stortingsforhandlingene between 1814 and 2005.

Statsmaktene is a digital database provided by the National Library. It comprises of Stortingsforhandlingene, NOUs, Innstillinger og Betenkninger, and several non-official registries to official documents. Those registries are valuable in the process of retrieving older documents and preparatory works.

Subscribers to LovdataPro or Rettsdata have access to a fair amount of preparatory works but far less than the two free-of-charge databases above. The advantage of using LovdataPro or Rettsdata is the cross-links to other legal sources.

Statements made by legislators regarding the interpretation of a statute after it has come into force are referred to as “etterarbeider” or subsequent legislative history. These statements are recognized as a source of law, although their significance is subject to debate.

2.3. Case Law – Law Reports

Case law is a significant source of law. Judges, particularly those of the Supreme Court, play a central role in applying the law. The courts began acting as lawmakers at the end of the 19th century, exercising constitutional review on statutory law and developing customary law. In 1915, the Court of Justice Act (Domstolloven) was passed, requiring the Supreme Court to publish reports of its decisions, including arguments and voting outcomes. These reports are considerably briefer than what is common in other countries, such as Germany, and especially the USA. Supreme Court rulings are available from the Supreme Court’s webpage dating back to 2000. Additionally, reasoned judgements from 2008 and onward from the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal are available free of charge in Norwegian on Lovdata. Cases from the district courts and land consolidation courts from 2016 onward are also available free of charge. Most case law is only available in Norwegian. Lovdata has published a webpage with translated decisions, mainly from the Supreme Court, also dating back to 2008. However, as stated on their webpage, “[i]n most cases only a summary of the decision is translated. The complete text is available for selected decisions.”

Supreme Court judgements and court orders dated before 2016 were published in print in Norsk Retstidende (abbreviated Rt). Norsk Retstidende also contained justified court orders and decisions from the Appeal Committee of the Supreme Court. Norsk retstidende was published approximately twenty-six to thirty times a year. An example of a reference to a judgment in Norsk retstidende is Rt. 2014 s. 1334, where the last number refers to the page.

Lovdata has published Norsk Retstidende only electronically since 2016 and stopped using the Rt. abbreviation. To retrieve a judgment, you can use the reference number assigned to it in databases or from the courts. Reference numbers are also applied to older cases and are independent of whether the judgment is published or not. An example of such a reference is HR-2014-2530-U.

A selection of judgments and decisions from the lower courts, the District Courts (tingrettene), and the Courts of Appeal (lagmannsrettene) were published in Rettens Gang (RG) between 1933 and 2014. This selection contained key decisions from the courts. Today, practitioners access selections of lower courts judgments through subscriptions to LovdataPro or Rettsdata or by contacting the different courts. Lovdata introduced flaggsaker in 2014 to highlight noteworthy lower court cases. Most of Norsk retstidende and Rettens Gang are available through subscriptions to LovdataPro or Rettsdata, though they may not be complete regarding the oldest volumes.

Judgements from some special court’s reports are published in different printed law reports; for example:

  • Dommer og kjennelser av arbeidsretten: Decisions and rulings of the Labour Court (1916-2005). New rulings are available at the Labour Court’s (Arbeidsretten) webpage. LovdataPro has judgements from the Labour Court from 2016 and up to now.
  • Dommer, uttalelser m.v. i skattesaker og skattespørsmål: Decisions, rulings, etc. in tax matters (1922- ). These are also available from 1954 and onwards via Rettsdata.
  • Nordisk Domssamling: Nordic Court Report (1958-1999) contains selected decisions from the Nordic countries. As of 2002, the publication is available via Idunn.no.
  • Nordiske domme i sjøfartsanliggender: The Nordic decisions in maritime matters (1900- ) contain Nordic decisions on maritime law. Full-text documents, from 1989 and onward, are available for subscribers through LovdataPro. They also have a selection of older, 1925-1952 full-text decisions and abstracts for the decisions in the period of 1952-1988.

LovdataPro contains judgements from several other special courts, in addition to those collected in publications. However, the coverage in time and extent varies from court to court:

  • Arbeidsretten: The Labour Court
  • Jordskifteoverrettene: The land consolidation appellate court (Discontinued as of 2016)
  • Jordskifterettene: The land consolidation courts
  • Trygderetten: The National Insurance Court
  • Høyfjellskommisjonen: The Mountain Commission
  • Rapporter fra Finnmarkskommisjonen: Reports from the Finnmark Commission
  • Utmarksdomstolen for Finnmark: The Finnmark Land Tribunal
  • Utmarkskommisjonen for Nordland og Troms: The Nordland and Troms Land Tribunal (1990- 2004)
  • Kommisariske høyesterett 1941-1944: Supreme Court during the occupation (1941-1944)

2.4. Administrative Practice

Administrative practice as a source of law is debated. The practice of public administrative agencies is often referred to and relied on by the courts and especially the civil service itself. An argument against emphasizing administrative practice as a source of law is that they are not necessarily accessible to the public.

There are several different sorts of documents from the public administration that constitutes the administrative practice:

  • Circulars, rundskriv, 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. The government publishes circulars from the ministries on their webpage. Lovdata Pro and Rettsdata also provide their subscribers with access to a selection of circulars.
  • The Parliamentary Ombud for Scrutiny of the Public Administration supervises the public administration. Supervision is conducted either on the Ombuds’ own initiative or after a complaint from a citizen. The Parliamentary Ombuds opinions are a source to establish the public administrative practice. Some are available annually as Document no 4 in volume 5 of the printed version of Stortingsforhandlingene and presently as Document no 4 in the document series at the website of the Storting. The document series is a collection of publications originating from the Storting or bodies affiliated with the Storting.
  • Consultations, høringer, are proposals that the Ministry sends to affected parties (public and private institutions, organizations, and other ministries). Consultations provide a platform for the public, organizations, and the business community to express their opinions and oversee the functioning and performance of public administration.
  • Official Norwegian Reports (NOU) can also be an expression of administrative practice, in addition to being preparatory works.
  • Reports and plans are usually written by external researchers or a committee and include reports, analysis, and surveys delivered to the ministries.
  • Various administrative bodies can issue interpretive statements. For example, the expert body within the Ministry of Justice provides advisory legal interpretations in response to inquiries from other administrative entities, primarily other ministries. A collection of these interpretive statements, known as tolkingsuttalelser (Prinsipputtalelser og fortolkninger), is available on the government’s website. Older printed statements are compiled in Lovavdelingens Uttalelser and are available in volumes covering 1976-1988, 1988-1991, and 1992-1995. For interpretive statements from other ministries, one can use Find Document or the different websites of the ministries.

Literature is not a primary source of law, but it can be used as an advisory source. Moreover, as for all research, the researcher must be critical of the sources.

Commentaries to legislation and international instruments can be useful to form a general idea about a primary source of law. Most of the commentaries are only available in print. However, more commentaries are available for subscribers through databases:

  • Norsk Lovkommentar: commented Norwegian Legislation available through Rettsdata. The commentaries contain annotations to the statutory provisions. Rettsdata also hold other commentaries as e-books.
  • Lovkommentarer fra Karnov: commented Norwegian legislation from Karnov Group, fully integrated with LovdataPro. Access requires a separate subscription.
  • Juridika.no: updated commentaries based on the “blue commentaries” from Universitetsforlaget. Contains annotations to the statutory provisions and commentaries as e-books.
  • Arbeidsrett.no: commentaries on labour law-related legislation.

Research libraries in Norway use Oria as their discovery tool for printed and electronic collections. The purpose is that the user shall be able to find “everything” that is available from their library. Unfortunately, Oria does not meet the expectations for the legal discipline and especially Norwegian law. Oria is still the primary discovery tool to find books, journals, databases, and many legal articles. Nevertheless, one does not necessarily find everything since many legal journals and databases lack indexing on the article or source level. It is, therefore, essential, to have knowledge of other search tools than Oria, such as Google Scholar, and of how to do research in databases, like LovdataPro and Rettsdata.

Selected Norwegian e-Journals and Literature in Selected Databases: LovdataPro holds, as of December 2024, approximately 8,700 full-text law articles published in journals, legal festschriften, and other publications. LovdataPro is a central source to find older literature that is not otherwise electronically available. LovdataPro also contains other journals and literature:

  • Eurorett: a guide to new EC and EEA rules and legal decisions of importance to Norway
  • Folkeregisterhåndboken: Handbook on the national directory of residents.
  • Karnov faglitteratur: e-books and articles from Karnov.
  • Lov&Data: articles from the Scandinavian countries regarding law and informatics
  • Statens personalhåndbok: the government’s employee handbook. Also, available free of charge through Lovdata.
  • Skatte-ABC: handbook of tax legislation.
  • MVA-håndboken: a handbook on statutory provisions in the Norwegian VAT-act.
  • Skatteforvaltningshåndboken: a handbook on statutory provisions in the Norwegian Tax administration act.
  • Skattebetalingshåndboken: a handbook on tax payment

Rettsdata provides subscribers with e-books, articles, and commentaries on judgments, besides Norsk Lovkommentar. The e-books are discoverable in Oria by title. See the full overview of literature in Rettsdata. Rettsdata also holds four e-journals:

  • Arctic Review on Law and Politics: legal and social science articles regarding the Arctic areas.
  • Dommer, uttalelser m.v. fra Ligningsutvalget (Utv.): decisions and rulings in tax matters.
  • Nordisk Tidsskrift for Selskabsret (NTS): company law in the Nordic countries.
  • Nytt i Privatretten (NiP): short articles and information regarding private law issues.

Idunn.no is a subscription database indexed and searchable in Oria. It is worth mentioning since it contains a wide range of academic journals within different subjects and some important legal journals.

Legal journals in Idunn are:

  • Arbeidsrett: articles of labour law (Available from 2004)
  • Jussens Venner: different subjects of particular interest for law students (Available from 1980)
  • Kart og plan: journal of land-use planning, land consolidation, real estate subjects, geomatics, map subjects, and the legal aspects of these subjects (Available from 2019)
  • Kritisk Juss: an interdisciplinary, partial open-access journal for fundamental questions regarding law and other subjects (Available from 2004. Open access from 2017)
  • Lov og Rett (LoR): articles on all fields of law; the authors are mostly jurists in academic positions, lawyers, or judges. (Available from 1971)
  • Nordic Journal of Criminology (2019-present)
  • Nordic Journal of Human Rights: (Available from 2001-2013. Published by Routledge from 2014)
  • Nordic Journal of Studies in Policing (Previous Nordisk Politiforskning): Open-access journal of knowledge and research regarding the police in the Nordic countries (Available from 2014)
  • Nordisk domssamling: select Supreme Court decisions from Nordic countries (Available from 2002)
  • Oslo Law Review: articles from all areas of legal scholarship (Available from 2017)
  • Skatterett: tax law, articles of legal aspects of taxation (Available from 2001)
  • Tidsskrift for eiendomsrett: articles on property law (Available from 2005)
  • Tidsskrift for erstatningsrett, forsikringsrett og trygderett: journal of the law of damages, insurance law, and social security law (Available from 2004)
  • Tidsskrift for familierett, arverett og barnevernrettslige spørsmål: journal of family law, succession law and child protection law (Available from 2003)
  • Tidsskrift for forretningsjus: articles on business law (Available from 1995)
  • Tidsskrift for rettsvitenskap (TfR): a Nordic publication issued in Norway. More academic than other Norwegian journals and contains long scholarly theses as well as reviews of Nordic legal literature (Available from 1980)
  • Tidsskrift for strafferett: journal of criminal law (Available from 2001)

Advokatforeningen, the Norwegian Bar Association, has more than 6,500 members, and about ninety-four percent of the attorneys in Norway are members. The association publishes Advokatbladet with information about lawyers and short articles about recent legislation and case law. It also contains a separate section with news about legal sources. The other significant association of Norwegian lawyers, Juristforbundet or the Norwegian Association of Lawyers, publishes Juristen, which 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.

Rett24 is a wire service that publishes news and debates within the field of law.

2.6. Common Practice

The common practice between private parties is of less importance today than before. Usage is, however, still an essential source of law within specific areas. Some of the private conflict-solving bodies publish their decisions. Among these is the Norwegian Financial Services Complaints Board (Finansklagenemnda (FinKN)), the complaint board for insurance, bank, finance, and securities. Lovdata publishes decisions and opinions made by several committees and boards electronically in LovdataPro, in addition to reports by several other organizations.

2.7. Equitable Considerations

Equitable considerations, as articulated by Eckhoff (2001), involve evaluating the suitability of a given outcome. There are not any lists of equitable considerations deemed legitimate to consider. Case law serves as a resource for understanding how judges apply equitable considerations. The relevance of specific equitable considerations will vary depending on the facts of each case.

2.8. Treaties

International legal instruments are relevant sources of law due to Norway’s international obligations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for Norges traktater (Norwegian treaties), a database hosted by Lovdata. The register provides an online overview of and information about all treaties where Norway is a party. Full text is available from 1992 and up to today. LovdataPro users have access to the same database, but with cross-links to other material, in addition to other selected treaties in full text.

The texts in the database Norges Traktater are derived from the publication Overenskomster med fremmede stater, agreements with foreign states, often referred to as Overenskomster. The publication contains all agreements with foreign states where Norway is a party to the agreement. The text is published both in the authentic language of the treaty and in an official Norwegian translation. However, even though the translation is official, is it not an authoritative source to Norway’s international obligations. Overenskomster dates to 1879 and is published irregularly.

Treaty database is a collection of treaties edited by Professor Ole Kristian Fauchald at the University of Oslo. It is funded by the sales of Global and Regional Treaties, by Ole Kristian Fauchald and Bård Sverre Tuseth (eds.). The target group of the database are law students.

Treaties considered especially important has occasionally been published as collections. Some examples of this are:

  • Global and regional treaties by Ole Kristian Fauchald and Bård Sverre Tuseth (eds.)
  • Folkerettslig tekstsamling: 1883-2007 (2008) by Magnus Buflod, Knut Anders Sannes, and Kristoffer Aasebø (eds.)
  • Norges traktater, Norwegian treaties (1967-88) in five volumes is a printed source of international treaties ratified by Norway. The last volume contains the ever-important index. The online version of Norges traktater cites the printed version that still is a publication to be reckoned with for older treaties. The collection contains most of the treaty texts organized chronologically in both Norwegian and the language of origin.

Legal studies in Norway have traditionally been programmes of professional studies. In recent years, several university colleges and some new universities have begun offering a one-year program and bachelor programs in legal subjects. These do not necessarily result in qualifications to complete an ordinary law degree. Utdanning.no has a complete list in Norwegian of legal education in Norway. Six universities offer master’s degree programs in Norway; whereas, three of them were recently established.

3.1. University of Oslo – UiO

The Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo offers different master programs, a bachelor program in criminology, and a one-year program also in criminology. Master of Law, Rettsvitenskap, is a five-year programme of professional study in law with a focus on Norwegian law and some international law. The program leads to a master’s degree in law. Other master programs in law offered at the University of Oslo are:

  • Criminology (two years) (Kriminologi)
  • Information and Communication Technology (one and a half years)
  • Maritime Law (one and a half years)
  • North Sea Energy Law (experience-based)
  • Public administration informatics (two years) (Forvaltningsinformatikk)
  • Public International Law (one and a half years)
  • Sociology of law (two years) (Rettssosiologi)
  • Theory and Practice of Human Rights (two years)

The faculty has, as of December 2019, a Centre for Excellence in Education called CELL. CELL is short for Centre on Experiential Legal Learning and works with developing new teaching methods in legal education.

3.2. University of Bergen – UiB

The Faculty of Law at the University of Bergen offers a programme of professional study in law. It is also a five-year program, mainly taught in Norwegian, with a focus on Norwegian law but also some international law. The program leads to a master’s degree in law. They also offer a two-year master’s program for students with a bachelor in law from the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, the University of Agder, or the University of Stavanger.

3.3. University of Tromsø – UiT – The Arctic University of Norway

The Faculty of Law at the University of Tromsø offers a program of professional study in law. As in Oslo and Bergen, the program is also a five-year program, mainly taught in Norwegian, with a focus on Norwegian law but also some international law. Graduates earn a master’s degree in law. Tromsø also offers a master of laws in the law of the sea and a Joint Nordic Master’s Programme in Environmental Law.

3.4. University of Agder – UiA – Campus Kristiansand

The School of Business and Law at the University of Agder offers a programme of law based on a three-year bachelor degree and a two-year master degree.

3.5. University of Stavanger – UiS

University of Stavanger’s School of Business and Law offers a programme of professional study in law based on a three-year bachelor degree and a two-year master degree.

3.6. BI Norwegian Business School – Oslo Campus

BI is a private school who offers a programme of professional study in law based on a three-year bachelor degree and a two-year master degree. The programme has a business and commercial law focus and provides the students with an expert knowledge of business law.

4. Law Libraries

Three of the universities has dedicated law libraries. They serve students and researchers at their institutions and are also open to the public.

4.1. The Law Library at the University of Oslo Library

The law library at the University of Oslo is one of the largest law libraries in Norway. It is located at the city centre campus at the Faculty of Law. It reopened in January 2020 in the brand new faculty building, Domus Juridica. The library consists of two libraries, the Law Library in Domus Juridica and the Library for Legal History in the old library building, Domus Bibliotheca. The Legal history library is only accessible after an appointment. The library has a subject pages for law, human rights, and criminology that are used as a starting point during library courses for students, during research support sessions, and by other library patrons.

4.2. The Law Library at the University of Bergen Library

The University of Bergen has a library for legal subjects and law. The location of the library is at Dragefjellet in the Faculty of Law building. The library is open for the public. The law library has a subject page for law with a collection of relevant resources.

4.3. The Library of Psychology and Law at the UiT University Library

While Oslo and Bergen have dedicated law libraries, Tromsø has combined the subjects’ psychology and law in one library branch located at the campus, the Psychology and Law Library. The University Library of Tromsø has not a dedicated page for the law collection but offers a start page for all their libraries.

5. Reference Books and Standard Works

The major introductory work is Knophs oversikt over Norges rett, Knoph on Norwegian Law. The most recent edition is the 16th from 2024. The book is comprehensive with many contributing writers, and it contains brief introductions to various legal subjects.

Other selected works on legal method and Constitutional Law:

  • Juridisk metode og tenkemåte, (2019) edited by Alf Petter Høgberg and Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde. An extensive and up to date presentation on sources of law theory, legal method, and legal way of thinking
  • Hvordan finne rettskilder: en innføring i rettskildejungelen, (2012) by Rebecca J. Five Bergstrøm and Hilde Westbye
  • Juridisk metode i et nøtteskall, (2023), by Ragna Aarli and Synne Sæther Mæhle
  • Rettskildelærens grunnlag, (2022), by Svein Eng, On foundations of legal method
  • Rett praksis: lærebok i norsk juridisk metode, (2022), by Knut Bergo. Textbook on Norwegian Legal Method
  • Konstitusjonelt demokrati – statsforfatningsretten i prinsipielt og komparativt lys, (2021), by Eivind Smith. A fundamental account on Norwegian Constitutional Law
  • Judicial Review in Norway; A Bicentennial Debate, (2018), by Anine Kierulf. Norwegian constitutionalism examined through the debates and cases of judicial review
  • Innføring i juss: juridisk tenkning og rettskildelære, (2010) by Erik Boe contains advice on study methods, legal theory, and a summary of certain areas of law
  • Innføring i rettsstudiet, (2002) by Johs. Andenæs
  • Rettskildelære, (2009) by Mads Henry Andenæs. Legal Method
  • Rettskildelære, (2001) by Torstein Eckhoff. Legal Method
  • Rettskilder og juridisk metode (1998) by Carl August Fleischer. Legal Method

5.2. Bibliographies

Bibliographic resources can be useful when it is hard to locate older resources. For example, the Guide to Nordic Bibliography by Munch-Petersen is a descriptive guide in English covering the Nordic countries.

The National Library provides access to several catalogues and bibliographies, such as:

  • Norper: the Norwegian List of Serials contains references to journals, microforms, and newspapers, mainly from 1970 and onward. It was last updated in 2017. Use Oria for more recent titles.
  • Norart: the Index to Norwegian and Nordic Periodical Articles covers references to articles from about 400 Norwegian journals, mainly from 1982 onwards.
  • Oria: a discovery system succeeding Bibsys Ask. Oria eases access to many more resources than Bibsys, i.e., resources that were only searchable from Norart, among others.
  • Cristin: the Current Research Information System in Norway is a system used by the Norwegian universities and some research institutions for research documentation (development of the earlier joint system for the universities called “Frida”). Cristin consists of one module for research results and information about projects and the researchers’ profiles.

5.3. Law Bibliographies

Most Norwegian legal festschrifts contain a bibliography of the person to whom the festschrift is dedicated. Since most festschrifts are about well-known legal researchers and are published at the end of the researcher’s career, they are often a relevant source to discover legal literature within a field. The technological evolution has eased the retrieval of literature, and the need of extensive bibliographies has naturally declined. There are still some older works that can be of interest.

    • Norwegian Law in Foreign Languages by NorLaw is published as a Zotero bibliography. NorLaw was first published in 2004 by Kirsti Lothe Jacobsen, revised in 2018 by Elen Elvebakk.
    • The Scandinavian Legal Bibliography (Iuul et al. 1961) contains references to older literature.
    • Allgemeines und Europa by Lansky. Part of Bibliographisches Handbuch der Rechts- und Verwaltungswissenschaften.

General Norwegian Law Bibliography

  • Norsk juridisk litteratur 1962-1966 by Kaare Haukaas.

Specialised Law Bibliographies

  • Norwegian Legal Publications in English, French and German up to 1965, by Haukaas with a supplementary volume for the period 1966-1977, also by Haukaas.
  • Recent Legal Developments in the Nordic Countries: A Selected Bibliography of Works Written in English, German, French, and Italian, 1982-1992, by Inger Erikson Haider
  • Norsk skatterett 1945-1988, by Kjersti Selberg, 1990. (Norwegian Tax Law)
  • Norske juridiske festskrift 1870-1990: en bibliografi over innholdet, by Halvor Kongshavn, 1991 (Bibliography of contents of the Norwegian festschriften).
  • Tilleggshefte 1991-1993 til Norske juridiske festskrift 1870-1990, by Halvor Kongshavn, 1994. (Supplement to Bibliography of contents of the Norwegian festschriften).
  • A Bibliography of Articles in non-Scandinavian Languages for the Years 1963-1993 in Norwegian Legal festschriften, by Halvor Kongshavn, 1994.
  • Juridisk fakultetsbibliografi, by Kirsti Lothe, 1994. A bibliography of publications made by the academic staff at the faculty of law, University of Bergen, in connection with the faculty’s 25th anniversary in 1994.
  • Juridisk oppslagsbok, 19th edition, edited by Hanne Strømø and Pål A. Bertnes, 1997. The reference book on law contains references to books and articles.
  • Nordisk juridisk festskriftbibliografi, by Hanne Strømø and Halvor Kongshavn, 1998.
  • Nordic legal festschriften (Juridisk fakultetsbibliotek, 1999), by Hanne Strømø and Halvor Kongshavn.
  • Nordisk sjørettsbibliografi 1880-1998, Bibliography of Nordic maritime law 1880-1998, by Kirsten Al-Araki, 2000.
  • Nordisk juridisk festskriftbibliografi: innholdet i juridiske festskrift fra Danmark, Finland, Island, Norge og Sverige: 1998-2002, by Halvor Kongshavn (Gyldendal, 2003) (Bibliography of Nordic legal festschriften).
  • Eldre norske rettskilder, en oversikt, Older Norwegian sources to law. An overview, 3d edition in Juridisk biblioteks skriftserie nr. 2, 2013. by Kjersti Selberg.
  • Legal and criminological monographs in foreign language., by Rebecca Josefine Five Bergstrøm, 2015. An online bibliography of works published between 2000 and 2015 in foreign languages by the permanent staff at the Faculty of Law.

5.4. Dictionaries

Jusleksikon: by Jon Gisle et al. with English terms. Available online for subscribers:

All the above provide short explanations in Norwegian of selected legal terms.

  • Engelsk-norsk økonomisk-juridisk ordbok, English-Norwegian economic law dictionary by Hansen and Lind, 2008.
  • Norsk-engelsk økonomisk-juridisk ordbok by Hansen and Lind, 2nd edition 2010.
  • Engelsk-norsk juridisk ordbok, English-Norwegian dictionary of law by Lind, 3rd edition 2013.
  • Norsk-engelsk juridisk ordbok, Norwegian-English dictionary of law by Lind, 5th edition 2009.
  • Norsk-engelsk strafferettslig ordbok, Norwegian-English dictionary of criminal-law terms by Walford, 2nd edition 2007.

6. Statistics

The leading supplier of statistics in Norway is the public institution Statistics Norway, which publishes weekly, monthly, and annual statistics on most areas of society, including law and legal institutions, education, trade, and business. The statistics are available in both Norwegian and English. All public institutions are obliged to supply Statistics Norway with statistics.

7. Literature index

7.1. Literature

  • Aarli, Ragna and Synne Sæther Mæhle, Juridisk metode i et nøtteskall, 2023.
  • Al-Araki, Kirsten, Nordisk sjørettsbibliografi 1880-1998, 2000.
  • Andenæs, Johs, Innføring i rettsstudiet, 6th edition, 2002.
  • Andenæs, Mads Henry, Rettskildelære, 2nd edition, 2009.
  • Bergstrøm, Rebecca J. Five and Hilde Westbye, Hvordan finne rettskilder: en innføring I rettkildejungelen, 2012.
  • Bernitz, Ulf, “What is Scandinavian Law? Concept, Characteristics, Future,” Scandinavian Studies in Law vol. 50 (2007) p. 13-29.
  • Bergo, Knut, Rett praksis: lærebok i norsk juridisk metode, 2022.
  • Bergstrøm, Rebecca J. Five, Legal and criminological monographs in foreign language, 2015.
  • Boe, Erik, Innføring, i juss: juridisk tenkning og rettskildelære, 3rd edition, 2010.
  • Buflod, Magnus, Knut Anders Sannes and Kristoffer Aasebø (eds.), Folkerettslig tekstsamling: 1883-2007, 4th edition, 2008.
  • Eckhoff, Torstein and Jan E. Helgesen, Rettskildelære, 5th edition, 2001.
  • Eng, Svein, Rettskildelærens grunnlag, 2022.
  • Fauchald, Ole Kristian and Bård Tuseth (eds.), Global and regional treaties: 2012, 2012.
  • Fleischer, Carl August, Rettskilder og juridisk metode, 1998.
  • Gisle, Jon and Kristian Andenæs [et al.], Jusleksikon, 4th edition, 2010.
  • Haider, Inger Eriksson, “Recent legal developments in the Nordic countries: a selected bibliography of works written in English, German, French, and Italian,” International journal of legal information, vol. 21 nr 1 (1993).
  • Hansen, Einar and Åge Lind, Engelsk-norsk økonomisk-juridisk ordbok, 2008.
  • Hansen, Einar and Åge Lind, Norsk-engelsk økonomisk-juridisk ordbok, 2010.
  • Haukaas, Kaare, Norwegian legal publications in English, French and German: A list, 1966.
  • Haukaas, Kaare, Norwegian legal publications in English, French and German 1966-76, 1977.
  • Høgberg, Alf Petter and Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde (eds.), Juridisk metode og tenkemåte, 2019.
  • Iuul, Stig, Åke Malmstrøm and Jens Søndergaard, Scandinavian legal bibliography, 1961.
  • Jacobsen, Kirsti Lothe, Juridisk fakultetsbibliografi: systematisk og alfabetisk bibliografi over publikasjoner utgitt ved Det juridiske fakultet: biografi over ansatte ved fakultetet 1969-1994, 1994.
  • Kierulf, Anine, Judicial Review in Norway; A Bicentennial Debate, 2018.
  • Knoph, Ragnar, Knophs oversikt over Norges rett, 16th edition, edited by Harald Irgens-Jensen, 2024.
  • Kongshavn, Halvor, A bibliography of articles in non-Scandinavian languages for the years 1963-1993 in Norwegian legal festschriften, 1994.
  • Kongshavn, Halvor, Nordisk juridisk festskriftbibliografi: innholdet i juridiske festskrift fra Danmark, Finland, Island, Norge og Sverige: 1998-2002, 2003.
  • Kongshavn, Halvor, Norske juridiske festskrift 1870-1990: en bibliografi over innholdet, 1991.
  • Kongshavn, Halvor, Tilleggshefte 1991-1993 til Norske juridiske festskrift 1870-1990, 1994
  • Lansky, Ralph, Allgemeines und Europa, 1987.
  • Lind, Åge, Engelsk-norsk juridisk ordbok, 3rd edition, 2013.
  • Lind, Åge, Norsk-engelsk juridisk ordbok, 5th edition, 2009.
  • Matheson, Wilhelm and Geir Woxholth, Lovavdelingens uttalelser: (1976-1988), 1990.
  • Matheson, Wilhelm and Geir Woxholth, Lovavdelingens uttalelser, Supplementsutgave (1988-1991), 1993.
  • Mestad, Ola, The impact of the US constitution on the Norwegian constitution and on emigration to America. In Joranger, Terje Mikael Hasle & Cleven, Harry T. (Red.), Norwegian-American Essays 2017. Novus Forlag.
  • Munch-Petersen, Erland, Guide to Nordic Bibliography, 1984.
  • Norge Utenriksdepartementet, Norges traktater 1661-, 1967- 1989.
  • Norge Utenriksdepartementet. Overenskomster med fremmede stater.
  • Selberg, Kjersti, “Eldre norske rettskilder, en oversikt,” 3rd edition, Juridisk biblioteks skriftserie, nr 2 (2013)
  • Selberg, Kjersti, Norsk skatterett 1945-1988, en bibliografi, 1990.
  • Smith, Eivind, Konstitusjonelt demokrati – statsforfatningsretten i prinsipielt og komparativt lys, 2021.
  • Strømø, Hanne E. and Halvor Kongshavn, “Nordic legal festschriften: a bibliography of the essays written in English, German and French until 1999,” Det Juridiske fakultetsbiblioteks skriftserie, Nr14 (1999).
  • Strømø, Hanne E and Pål A Bertnes (eds), Juridisk oppslagsbok, 19th edition, 1997. Strømø, Hanne E. and Halvor Kongshavn, Nordisk juridisk festskriftbibliografi: innholdet i juridiske festskrift fra Danmark, Finland, Island, Norge og Sverige 1870-1997, 1998.
  • Walford, Ronald, Norsk-engelsk strafferettslig ordbok, 2d edition, 2007.
  • Woxholth, Geir, Lovavdelingens uttalelser, Supplementsutgave 1992-1995, 1997.

7.2. Websites and electronic resources

7.3. Legislation

7.4. Court Reports

  • Dommer og kjennelser av arbeidsretten, Arbeidsretten.
  • Dommer, uttalelser m.v. i skattesaker og skattespørsmål, Ligningsnevndenes landsforbund.
  • Nordisk Domssamling, Universitetsforlaget.
  • Nordiske domme i sjøfartsanliggende, Nordisk skibsrederforening.
  • Norsk retstidende, Den norske advokatforening.
  • Rettens Gang, Den norske advokatforening.