Disputationer 2010
Lena Wahlberg
Legal Questions and Scientific Answers
Ontological Differences and Epistemic Gaps in the Assessment of Casual Relations
Datum för disputation: fredagen den 3 december 2010
Fakultetsopponent: professor Juha Karhu, Lapplands universitet, Sverige
Ämne: allmän rättslära
Abstract
A large number of legal rules create an obligation to prevent, repair or otherwise mitigate damage to human health or the environment. Many of these rules require that a legally relevant causal relation between human behavior and the damage at issue is established, and in the establishment of causal relations of this kind scientific information is often pressed into service. This thesis examines this specifically legal use of scientific information. It shows that many legally relevant causal relations cannot be established in this way. It also shows that the legal strategy for dealing with epistemic difficulties (uncertainty and ignorance) by relaxing the standard of proof is of limited value in tackling this problem. Consequently, the legal rules focused upon are less efficient tools for combating damage to human health and the environment than their appearances suggest. Other legal means to achieve this aim should therefore be considered. The thesis begins by presenting a framework which can be used to solve some important problems with communication and the division of labour that arise when scientific information is used to answer legal questions. This framework recognizes both epistemological and ontological differences between law and science. The latter are differences between the kinds of entity which are relevant in distinct theoretical contexts; the former, by contrast, are differences between applicable standards of proof. In subsequent parts of the thesis this framework shapes the discussion of the question: To what extent can legally relevant causal relations, involving legally significant entities, be established through the application of scientific information about other, scientifically relevant entities and legal standards of proof. The thesis concludes with a discussion of some of the ways in which the legal regulation could, potentially, be adapted, so as to counteract damage to human health and the environment more efficiently.
Henrik Wenander
Erkännande av utländska förvaltningsbeslut
Datum för disputation: lördagen den 20 mars 2010
Fakultetsopponent: professor Thomas Bull, Uppsala universitet, Sverige
Ämne: offentlig rätt
Abstract
Ämnet för avhandlingen är verkningarna av utländska förvaltningsbeslut i svensk rätt. På många offentligrättsliga områden finns regler och principer som innebär att utländska beslut skall tillmätas rättsliga verkningar i Sverige. Hit hör exempelvis körkort, yrkeskvalifikationer och produktgodkännanden. Syftet med avhandlingen är att i svenskt förvaltningsrättsligt perspektiv undersöka hur regler och principer om erkännande av utländska förvaltningsbeslut fungerar i det svenska förvaltningsrättsliga systemet. Ämnet behandlas genom dels identifiering av rättsliga principer och regler, dels systematisering av materialet mot bakgrund av en intresseavvägning mellan internationellt samarbete och nationellt självbestämmande. Den grundläggande regleringen i folkrätt, EU-rätt och svensk rätt innebär inte någon allmän plikt att erkänna andra staters förvaltningsbeslut. Dock föreligger, särskilt inom EU-rätten, vissa allmänna åtaganden till internationellt offentligrättsligt samarbete. Uttryckliga erkännandeplikter följer av internationella konventioner, EU-rättsakter och svenska författningar. Vidare kan EU-rättsliga principer, inte minst principen om ömsesidigt erkännande, innebära erkännandeplikter i enskilda fall. När det föreligger en erkännandeplikt är utrymmet att vägra att godta ett utländskt beslut mycket begränsat och kan normalt endast aktualiseras när det föreligger en uppenbar brist i det utländska beslutet. Avhandlingen undersöker vidare de frågor som kan uppstå vid de svenska myndigheternas handläggning i anslutning till olika slags erkännanderegler. Särskilt uppmärksammas de bestämmelser om hemlandstillsyn som förekommer i anslutning till vissa erkännanderegler. I avhandlingen presenteras en typologi för erkännanderegler, vilken utgår från avvägningen mellan nationellt självbestämmande och internationellt samarbete. En övergripande slutsats av undersökningen är att erkännanderegler kan anses ha sin främsta funktion i att de möjliggör en avvägning mellan dessa intressen.
In English
This thesis investigates the effects of foreign administrative decisions in the Swedish legal system. In several fields of public law there exist rules and principles providing that decisions emanating from other States’ administrative bodies should be recognized in Sweden, e.g. driving licences, university degrees and product certifications. The thesis examines the function of such rules and principles in light of the balancing of the interests of the states and individuals involved. There is no general legal duty to recognize foreign administrative decisions. However, there are some general obligations of international cooperation within the field of public law, especially under EU Law. Specific duties to recognize foreign administrative decisions are laid down in international conventions, legal instruments of the EU and Swedish legislation. Furthermore, general principles under EU Law, such as the principle of mutual recognition, may entail a duty to recognize foreign decisions in individual cases. When there is a legal duty to recognize a foreign decision, there is very little room to refuse recognition in Sweden. As a rule, there is a right of refusal only in case of manifest errors in the issuing State. The present study investigates some legal problems arising from the handling of cases involving the recognition of foreign administrative decisions, including issues concerning control by the authorities of the issuing State. The thesis puts forward a typology for rules on the recognition of foreign administrative decisions. It is concluded that rules and principles on recognition serve the function of balancing the interests of international cooperation, legal certainty and a State’s prerogatives for the determination of its domestic rules.
Martins Mits
European Convention on Human Rights in Latvia
Impact on Legal Doctrine and Application of Legal Norms
Datum för disputation: måndagen den 17 maj 2010
Fakultetsopponent: docent Jonas Grimheden, Lunds universitet, Sverige
Ämne: folkrätt
Abstract
Latvia offers an excellent point of departure for evaluating the influence of international human rights law through the European Convention on Human Rights on a sovereign state that has established itself as a democratic political system in the decline of the 20th century. This book explores the impact of the Convention on the domestic implementation of human rights provisions by studying the case law of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, including the doctrinal concepts applied by these courts. The Convention machinery itself is in need of reforms, therefore an evaluation of both positive and negative effects following from Latvia’s case against this background completes the study. Unavoidable complementary issues are findings about the consequences ensuing from prioritisation of the Convention among other treaties and about internationalisation of domestic law.
Elsa Trolle Önnerfors
Justitia et Prudentia
Rättsbildning genom rättstillämpning - Svea hovrätt och testamentsmålen 1640-1690
Datum för disputation: fredagen den 23 april 2010
Fakultetsopponent: professor Pia Letto-Vanamo, Helsingfors universitet, Finland
Ämne: rättshistoria
Abstract
Ordet ”testamente” omnämndes för första gången i svenska sammanhang vid mitten av 1100-talet. Under medeltiden användes testamentet huvudsakligen för gåvor till kyrkan, men under 1600-talet förändrades synen på testamentet. Upprättandet av ett testamente blev istället, precis som idag, en möjlighet för den enskilde att själv bestämma över fördelningen av den egna egendomen vid ett kommande arvskifte. Antalet testamenten ökade markant i Sverige under andra hälften av 1600-talet, och framför allt adeln utnyttjade testamentet som en rättslig strategi med målet att hålla egendomarna inom familjen.
Ett problem i sammanhanget var dock att bruket av testamenten inte var reglerat i de medeltida lagarna. Detta, i kombination med att antalet testamentstvister ökade, medförde att domstolarna (framför allt hovrätterna) genom sin rättstillämpning de facto fick skapa en ny rätt på området. I avhandlingen undersöks hur Svea hovrätt, den äldsta av de svenska hovrätterna, hanterade testamentsmålen under perioden 1640-1690. I fokus för undersökningen, som bygger på källmaterial från hovrättens dömande verksamhet, står hovrättens rättsbildande funktion. Den centrala frågan som behandlas är vilka rättskällor och vilka rättsliga argument som parterna och rättens ledamöter använde sig av för att motivera rätten att testamentera trots avsaknaden av lagreglering på området.
In English
The purpose of this doctoral dissertation is to investigate how legal issues relating to the law of wills were handled in the clash between the demands on the legal infrastructure of late 17th century Sweden on the one hand, and the insufficiencies of the medieval Swedish legislation on the other. The focus of the study is the law of wills, and how the absence of written law was handled by the appeal courts, primarily in the first royal court of appeal in Sweden, the Svea Court of Appeal. The Svea Court of Appeal established in 1614 and was situated in Stockholm, initially located in the royal castle where the court worked closely with the Crown. Two types of cases could be brought before the appeal courts: (i) appealed cases from the lower courts and (ii) cases which were the appeal court were the first instance, and the latter consisted mainly of cases involving nobility. During the period between 1640 and 1690, Svea Court of Appeal handled 169 cases relating to the law of wills. Out of these, 40 were subject to a review by the King in Council, and it is these 40 cases that this study focuses on. In over 75% of these cases the parties were members of the Swedish nobility.
Two aspects are central to the study: Firstly, how did Svea Court of Appeal handle the formation of new law in its ruling in cases relating to wills? How were issues relating to the legal form of the deed of will and the scope of the disposition by will? Secondly, the study focuses on the legal argumentation. The formation of new law was in part influenced by the lawyers’ use of new legal terms and legal figures. What type of reasoning did the 17th century lawyers use in the will disputes? Which arguments, terms and legal figures appeared in the party writings and the Court of Appeal’s findings? From where did the inspiration to the legal arguments and solutions come? How was it possible to combine the new legal influences with the old legal traditions? New law was formed through the writing of the parties and the reasoning of courts. The goal of this study is to put the formation of law and the argumentation relating to the law of wills into a legal cultural context, with a view to increasing the understanding of the lawyers’ work and knowledge structures during the period in question.
The Swedish lawyers imported new ideas and new legal concepts to a very large extent during the 17th century. This was a inter alia a result of Sweden’s participation in wars on the European continent, of the study trips (peregrinations) in Europe taken by Swedish law students and also of the fact that foreign law professors became more and more common at the Swedish universities. Ius commune had a big influence on both the legal development and the view of the sources of law during this period. The argumentation in the will deeds and eventually in the will cases was not based solely on legal arguments. Religious and moral arguments for rights of inheritance also became more and more common. The legal position regarding the law of wills was clarified in 1686, when the Statute of Wills was enacted. The Statute of Wills was largely based on case law from the appeal courts, and the regulations had been drafted based on the replies from the appeal courts in Stockholm, Turku and Jönköping to a questionnaire sent out by the Crown. The enactment of the Statute of Wills in 1686 also coincided with a period of intense legislation, and the same year a major law reform was initiated which eventually resulted in the new Swedish Law Code of 1734.
