Abstract
A short history of Nordic legal history Legal history is a well-established discipline in all five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). The “father of Swedish legal science”, Johan Olofsson Stiernhöök (1596-1675), is often mentioned as the first Nordic legal author with an interest in legal history. Seventeenth – and eighteenth – century legal history was, following Lars Björne’s expression, largely patriotic, whereas source criticism was valued less. This patriotism resulted mostly in the attempt to portray national legal history as something unique, with some commentators finding “Swedish” legislators in the ancient Greek literature. In the eighteenth century, historical sources began to be approached more critically. Swedish legal scholars such as David Nehrman (1695-1769), Olof Rabenius (1730-1772) and Anders Schönberg (1737-1811), as well as the Danes Christian Ditlev Hedegaard (1700-1781) and Peder Kofod Ancher (1710-1788), all discussed historical themes alongside their dogmatic works1. As elsewhere in nineteenth-century Europe, legal history as a separate branch of legal studies started to develop in the Nordic countries in the vein of the Historical School of Jurisprudence. The Dane Paul Detlef Christian Paulsen (1798-1854) wished to establish what he called “Nordic legal history” (ius scandinavicum), and the “Grundrids af den danske Lovhistorie” (Introduction to the Danish Legal History) by Janus Lauritz Andreas Kolderup-Rosenvinge (1792-
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