The Pirate Bay Sentence Today

The four men connected with The Pirate Bay were sentenced today to one year of imprisonment each for being accessories to copyright infringement. They shall also pay damages in an amount of SEK 30 million corresponding to about US$ 3.5 million. The Local has more in this article Pirate Bay guilty.

Access to Internet Information about Danish Companies

I have a new post today on this subject at my blog, Swedish Corporate Law

Access to Internet Information about Swedish Companies

I have a new post today on this subject at my blog, Swedish Corporate Law

Competitor to Swedish Law Blog???

A friend of mine alerted me to a site called swedishlaw.com

Interesting! So off I went to the site.

• The first thing I noted was that the left side links seemed a bit curious for a site devoted to “Swedish law” e.g. Swedish Bitters, Sweden Travel, Sweden Hotel, Swedish fish, Swedish food, Flight to Sweden. But the links lead you to other links about Swedish bitters, hotels etc. at least. So far so good!

• The second link was to “Bankruptcy Law Reform”. Hmm, interesting but the new Bankrutcy Act was enacted in 1987/88 in Sweden? No breaking news. When I followed the link I got to a list of new links – about English bankruptcy issues. I learnt that “ It Is Possible to Avoid Bankruptcy”. Good to know but not so Swedish.

• Next link. “Law blog” New list of links. The only one related to blogs was “AOL Women - Community Blogs”. Otherwise there were some interesting links. You could get “Unlimited legal advice for only £12.75 for six months”. I did not check the site but I think that we are still using the Swedish Krona (SEK) here in Sweden!

• The link “Law school” seemed interesting. Well, if I should go to law school again and learn some Swedish law I do not think “University of Edinburgh, School of Law” would be my first choice. But it was the first link I saw. No Swedish links.

• The links to “Common law” and “Federal law” could not refer to Swedish law as we do not have a common law system or any federal legislation.

• The best laugh I got when I clicked on “Sweden Map”. I got two links, one to “Free Download to Learn Swedish Fast” and to “Switzerland Maps”. Well, it is easy to mix up Sweden and Switzerland, but at a site called swedishlaw? Come on!!!

So that site is not a very useful site, if you are interested in Swedish law, but if you have a sweet tooth, do follow the link suggested by swedishlaw.com and check out ebay uk for Swedish Fish.

Swedish Civil Code?

I have received a question about the Swedish Civil Code in English. There is no such translation.

The fact is that Sweden does not have a Civil Code Already in 1734 the Swedish Parliament approved a new enactment for the Realm of Sweden (“Sveriges Rikes Lag”). The law, which is actually a collection of codes, was confirmed by the Swedish king, Fredrik I, on January 23, 1736 and has applied ever since. It is called the Law of 1734.

One of the most used law collections published annually, the Norstedt Law Book, has used the layout of the Law of 1734 by trying to sort in new enactments under the old codes. This means that you will find not only the Rome Convention of 1980 but also the Purchase of Goods Act of 1990 under the first Chapter of the 1734 Commercial Code.

The law of 1734 was divided into a number of codes. Through the years certain new codes have been included in the old system, the last one being the Environmental Code of 1998. Today the following codes will be found in the Norstedt Law Book:

1. Marriage Code of 1987

2. Parental Code of 1949

3. Inheritance Code of 1958

4. Land Code of 1970

5. Environmental Code of 1998

6. Land Parcelling Act of 1970

7. Building Code of 1734

8. Commercial Code of 1734

9. Tort Act of 1972

10. Bankruptcy Act of 1987

11. Penal Code of 1962

12. Code of Judicial Procedure of 1942

13. Enforcement Code of 1981

Only parts of the Commercial Code and the Building Code have survived since 1734. Codes number 5, 6, 9 and 10 were not included in the original enactment 1734 at all.

In Finland, which was a part of Sweden until 1809 the Code of Judicial Procedure of 1734 nominally applies although not very much of the original content is applicable today.

Although not very many fragments of the codes enacted in 1734 have survived, we still have some parts of it in use. If e.g. some one sells the same object to two different persons, you actually have to read the 1734 Commercial Code, Chapter 1, Section 5, which states that he who bought first should be allowed to keep it.

It should be noted that the Swedish building legislation is not to be found in the Building Code; instead it covers much more exciting things like still applicable rules about pigs eating acorns, swarming bees and burn-beating.

Squidoo Lense, Swedish Law

I have just updated my Squidoo Lense, Swedish Law. Check it out!

Sweden ranks #28 on List regarding Government Surveillance and Respect for Privacy

Privacy International, a human rights group formed as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations, today presented a Privacy and Human Rights global study as mentioned by Opinio Juris in this post.

You will find Sweden covered in the last part of the report.

I do not think that we Swedes are especially happy about finding Sweden mentioned among the countries showing a "systematic failure to uphold safeguards" and to have Sweden closely followed by Israel and the US. The only other EU country with a worse ranking is the UK (#33).

Hopefully the study by Privacy International will send a clear message to the new Swedish government not to continue the policy of the earlier government.

Changes to the Swedish Personal Data Act

The Swedish Parliament will soon decide to reform the Swedish Personal Data Act following a proposal of the Government.

- The intention is to amend the Personal Data Act to prevent the misuse of personal information and not, as the case is at present, to cover the handling of all such information.

- The changes will allow processing of personal data in unstructured material e.g. in word processing documents and single audio and video files. However, such processing must not violate the personal integrity of the registered person.

- Handling of personal data in violation of the Act will still be punishable if committed wilfully or by gross negligence. Ordinary negligence will no longer be punishable. The same applies to breaches of the rules regarding transfer to a third country of personal data if the third country has not an adequate level of protection for personal data.

- The Swedish Government considers its proposal to the Parliament in line with the EU Data Protection Directive 95/46/EU.

- The changes are intended to apply from January 1, 2007.

It's Official: Antarctica Is (Not) a Foreign Country

Opinio Juris notes here that

(T)he United States Tax Court ruled this week in Arnett v. United States that Antarctica is not a foreign country and therefore income earned there is fully taxable.

and at the same time that in 1993

the Supreme Court ruled in Smith v. United States that Antarctica is a foreign country for purposes of the Foreign Tort Claims Act.

It's an interesting post and I love the conclusion:

So I guess the rule is fairly clear: Antarctica is a foreign country if you are suing the United States, but is not a foreign country if the United States is suing you.

Why am I not surprised?

Squidoo Lense on Swedish Law

Seth Godin has a new company called Squidoo. The basic idea behind Squidoo is that each individual is an expert on topics that he or she cares about, and Squidoo will allow anyone to create a specialized webpage in which this expertise can be made available to others. Seth Godin calls these webpages lenses, which he suggests can be used to help others make sense of the world. Lenses are explained on the official Squidoo blog, SquidBlog.

My first try is the Swedish Law Lense, where I will try to add as many links to Swedish acts and other legal material available in English as possible. At present I have included links to Swedish Labour Legislation and to Swedish Business Legislation.

Do check it out and, more importantly, set up a lense your self. This is the new way to interact and share information, all a part of Web 2.0.

Blawg Review Guest Map

Swedish Law Blog has been placed on the Blawg Review Guest Map. Go there too!

Swedish Supreme Court Decision in Åke Green now in English Translation

Roger Alford at Opinio Juris has obtained the decision of the Supreme Court of Sweden in an English translation, but before reading the translation chech out his comments.

Åke Green acquitted – follow up

As mentioned in an earlier post, the Supreme Court of Sweden has found the Swedish pentecostal minister Åke Green not guilty in spite of his sermon containing inflammatory and sick views on gays. Among other things he said:” The Bible clearly teaches about these abnormalities. Sexual abnormalities are a deep cancerous tumor in the entire society. The Lord knows that sexually twisted people will rape the animals. Not even animals can avoid the fiery passion of man's sexual lust.”

The Court’s reasoned as follows.

• Green is guilty under Swedish law unless the rules of freedom of speech or of religion in the Swedish constitution and/or in the European Convention on Human Rights prevent this.

• The court found that the Swedish constitution did not prevent the Court from finding Green guilty.

• The European Court of Human Rights has interpreted the rules of freedom of speech and of religion in the European Convention on Human Rights in such a way that a guilty verdict by the Supreme Court of Sweden would probably be overturned by the European Court. Consequently, the Court found Åke Green not guilty.

In my view the important conclusion to draw from the verdict by the Supreme Court of Sweden is that it has made it clear that the statements by Åke Green were fully within the criminalized area of the Swedish hate crime legislation and that, without of the cloak of religion, he would have been found guilty.

It is deplorable that a person like Green is allowed to make public his sick views. In my opinion it is a flagrant misuse of the freedom of religion. This freedom should only be interpreted to permit the exercise of any and all religion (including Islam) and not the condemnation of certain behaviour as contrary to the religious laws of some favourite god.

However, I feel that the verdict, although sending the wrong signals in a society as the Swedish where crimes against gays are on the rise (a 100 % increase in one year), will be of very little general importance. No one of sound mind will interpret the verdict of the Supreme Court of Sweden as a green light for similar attacks on gays. In addition, people like Åke Green are not taken seriously here.

Swedish Law Blog "Featured Feed" at blawg.org

I am happy to note and “to tell to the world" that Swedish Law Blog is today's Featured Feed at blawg.org “Your Source For Law & Legal Related Weblogs”.

Åke Green acquitted

Åke Green was acquitted by the Supreme Court of Sweden today.

The Court found that Green’s inflammatory language against homosexuals contravened the Swedish hate crime legislation but under the circumstances a sentence against him would most likely be considered by the European Court of Human Rights as a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The sentence can be read in Swedish at the site of the Swedish Supreme Court.

ÅKE GREEN SERMON

This short unbiased information on the case from BBC News gives you the background of this interesting case, which sets the freedom of speech and of religion up against the Swedish hate crime legislation. This legislation has been amended to cover also crimes against homosexuals.

Having found the sermon and read all 12 pages of it, I can really see the problems the Supreme Court of Sweden is facing.

On the one hand, it is a severe attack in homosexuality based on Åke Green’s reading of the bible and it falls well within the framework of the Swedish hate crime legislation.

On the other hand, the freedom of speech and of religion could as easily be said to prevent a conviction under the hate crime legislation.

The District Court convicted Green, but the Court of Appeals reversed that decision.

What I noted in the sermon was the tedious, repetitious and complicated (at least to a non-Christian) references to the bible. To Åke Green the bible contains the word of the Lord and cannot be disputed. The sermon does not seem to fit very well with the kind of language one would expect to see in a speech contrary to the hate crime legislation.

Neither does his closing statement in his sermon:” We must never think that some people, because of their sinful lives, would end up outside of grace. Paul says about himself that he was the foremost of all sinners, but he encountered an abundance of grace and mercy….. It is by showing all people grace and mercy that we can win them for Christ. We never win anyone by giving them the cold shoulder.”

Nothing about killing all gays at all; only a disgusting expression of assumed moral superiority over sinners (I am sure that I am among the sinners, even if I am not gay. I may have “entertained evil thoughts” when a nice blonde passed by).

If you read the sermon thoroughly (not recommended unless you want to fall to sleep) you would note that Green makes reference a number of times to his work on a hot-line for people with personal problems (“as a volunteer telephone counsellor”), where people told him about their urges to rape animals (?). Do they not screen people like that – I mean the counsellors. Imaging being in anguish over e g how your parents have reacted when you told that you were gay and get Green on the line telling that “you could be cleansed from these abnormalities”.

I await the decision by the Supreme Court with great interest. The hearing took place on November 9 and the sentence is awaited by the end of November.

Blogger Problems

If you think I have no control over headings and text sizes in my post, you are right! Blogger does not give me the chance to preview or even tag my posts the last days.

However, I post anyway, hoping that my readers value the contents more than the lay-out!