Modéer, Kjell Å. --- "When the wind turned from South to West: the transition of Scandinavian legal cultures 1945–2000, a comparative sketch" [2019] ELECD 21; in Moréteau, Olivier; Masferrer, Aniceto; Modéer, A. Kjell (eds), "Comparative Legal History" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 400

Book Title: Comparative Legal History

Editor(s): Moréteau, Olivier; Masferrer, Aniceto; Modéer, A. Kjell

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781781955215

Section: Chapter 15

Section Title: When the wind turned from South to West: the transition of Scandinavian legal cultures 1945–2000, a comparative sketch

Author(s): Modéer, Kjell Å.

Number of pages: 15

Abstract/Description:

After 1945, the Scandinavian legal cultures changed focus. Before World War II, the influences from German legal culture had dominated for almost a century. During the post-war period, the Anglo-American law and legal culture became increasingly important, especially in Denmark and Norway. Due to its ‘neutral’ position during the war, Sweden developed an interesting position. A strong positivistic tradition together with the Scandinavian legal realism developed the internalized legal culture of modernity, which was threatened in the new European context after 1990. This chapter problematizes the construct of the legal family (as defined by Zweigert and Kötz in 1970) and its comparison regarding coherence and similarities. It also looks into Scandinavian legal cultures during the period, focusing on their differences. Five parameters are compared: (1) ideologies; (2) constitutions; (3) the creation of norms; (4) legal actors; and (5) infrastructures.