Law
According to the Swedish constitution the Swedish Riksdag is sovereign legislator and therefore decides what laws will be in force in Sweden. The government, state and local authorities do not have the corresponding right, but they can issue rules and regulations that citizens must follow. However, these do not have the dignity of laws.
Swedish laws are published by the government in the series The Swedish Code of Statutes (Svensk författningssamling, SFS). They are published continuously as the Riksdag makes decisions about new laws. SFS is published in booklets and in bound volumes by the end of the year. The digital form of SFS can be found in the databases of the Riksdag, Rixlex.
Body of laws
The body of laws the Statute Book of Sweden is published once a year and thus does not contain the most recent laws. It is a compilation of the most important laws and it is divided in an act system which has its origin in the 1734 year law. Since a couple of years back, the body of laws Sveriges Lagar is also issued. It is divided into 29 different subject fields in chronological order. In total more than 1100 statutes and some EU acts are included. The selection of statutes is about the same as in the commented body of laws Karnov. In Karnov law texts are commented and there are also references for relevant cases. You can find all this material at the University college library.
EU-legislation
Through our membership in the EU we have undertaken to implement directives and regulations in Swedish legislation. Many of the laws that are passed by the Riksdag today are thus based on regulations from the EU. You can find these in EUR-Lex. To search for a specific law in EUR-Lex can be difficult. The database offers a free text search function, but finding adequate search terms can be a problem. It is considerably easier if you have access to the so called Seelig number, which all legal documents are supplied with. In Rixlex register of Swedish statutes, the Seelig number is now included.
Courts
In certain situations it can be interesting to read about how laws are applied in our courts. At Domstolsväsendets rättsinformation you can find reports from different types of courts with precedent function.
Kent Pettersson
2005-06-22
