Law of Finland

Last updated

The law of Finland (Finnish : Suomen laki, Swedish : Finlands lag) is based on the civil law tradition, consisting mostly of statutory law promulgated by the Parliament of Finland. The constitution of Finland, originally approved in 1919 and rewritten in 2000, has supreme authority and sets the most important procedures for enacting and applying legislation. As in civil law systems in general, judicial decisions are not generally authoritative and there is little judge-made law. Supreme Court decisions can be cited, but they are not actually binding.

Contents

As a member of the European Union, European Union law is in force in Finland, and Finland implements EU directives in its national legislation. The Court of Justice of the European Union is the ultimate authority in matters in the competence of the European Union.

As in Sweden, administrative law is interpreted by a separate administrative court system. Besides law proper, i.e. acts of parliament (laki), permanent government decrees (asetus) form an important body of law. Issued if permitted by an act of parliament, the decrees may clarify acts and guide implementation thereof, but not contradict them.

History

Finnish law and legal traditions are based on Swedish law and in a wider sense, on the Scandinavian and German legal tradition, a subset of Roman law. The oldest law still practiced is Olaus Petri's instructions for judges from 1530, although as instructions they are not binding. The oldest act still in force, in part, is the Swedish Civil Code of 1734. Books of Court Procedure (oikeudenkäymiskaari), Trade (kauppakaari) and Construction (rakennuskaari) formally remain in force; many of these acts have been overturned in Sweden. However, in practice, these have been slowly eroded over the centuries, and many parts are no longer enforced, e.g. references to fines denominated in the ancient currency of Swedish riksdaler. [1] [2]

Due to transfer of sovereignty to Russia, a divergence from Swedish tradition begins from 1809. Important codifications were made during Imperial Russian sovereignty, e.g. the Criminal Code was promulgated by Czar Alexander III in 1889. [3] There was a Finnish parliament, the Diet of Finland, convened in 1809 and dissolved in 1906. The Diet was actually active only from 1863; in 1809-1863 the country was governed by administrative means only. Towards the end of the 19th century, the Imperial Russian government began restricting Finnish autonomy, and often refused to give Royal Assent. The Diet was replaced by the modern Parliament of Finland (eduskunta) in 1906. After independence in 1917, the Constitution of Finland was promulgated in 1919. The constitution received numerous amendments, scattered over multiple different acts, over the 20th century. In 2000, a rewritten, uniform version was promulgated to replace them.

Enacting laws

Acts of Parliament form the main body of the law. In the typical procedure, the Finnish Government proposes a bill to the Parliament of Finland. When the act is amended and approved by the Parliament, the act is submitted to the President of Finland for presidential assent. Once the President signs the act, it becomes law. The President can exercise a right of veto, but the veto can be overridden by the Parliament with a simple majority.

Decrees are based on an authorization for delegation stipulated in an act of parliament. Decrees can be issued by the Finnish Government, President of Finland and individual ministries. They are enacted by the President in session with the Government (presidentin esittely).

The European Union can issue both Regulations, which immediately become law in the member states, and Directives, which are implemented as Acts of Parliament by the Parliament of Finland.

Publication of laws

Finland does not have a single unified civil code, unlike e.g. France or Germany. All laws are published in the official journal Suomen säädöskokoelma (the Statutes of Finland) when promulgated. Most law is available from the online Finlex database, published by Edita Publishing Oy, and in a two-volume book set Suomen laki, published by Talentum Media. These collections are however not exhaustive.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Finland</span> Political system of Finland

The politics of Finland take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy. Finland is a republic whose head of state is President Sauli Niinistö, who leads the nation's foreign policy and is the supreme commander of the Finnish Defence Forces. Finland's head of government is Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, who leads the nation's executive branch, called the Finnish Government. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament of Finland, and the Government has limited rights to amend or extend legislation. The Constitution of Finland vests power to both the President and Government: the President has veto power over parliamentary decisions, although this power can be overruled by a majority vote in the Parliament.

In Finland a rekisteröity yhdistys or registrerad förening (Swedish) is a registered, non-profit organization. The abbreviations ry (Finnish) or rf (Swedish) are used as a suffix ending of the association's name, added when the association is officially registered. Registration is not mandatory, but is required in order for the association to become a juridical person, which confers various benefits. Registration requires the association to create a legally sound constitution, which must be approved by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office.

The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French maître de conférences (MCF), and equal to or above the title of associate professor.

The Constitution of Finland is the supreme source of national law of Finland. It defines the basis, structures and organisation of government, the relationship between the different constitutional organs, and lays out the fundamental rights of Finnish citizens, and individuals in general. The original Constitution Act was enacted in 1919, soon after Finland declared its independence in 1917. The current draft of the Constitution came into force on 1 March 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speaker of the Parliament of Finland</span> Legislative chair of the government of Finland

The speaker of the Parliament of Finland, along with two deputy speakers, is elected by Parliament during the first plenary session each year. Speakers are chosen for a year at a time. In addition to their preparing the work in plenary sessions the speakers also play a key role in Parliament's international co-operation, which includes visits by speakers and international delegations as well as participation in numerous interparliamentary organisations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finnish Government</span> Executive branch and cabinet of the government of Finland

The Finnish Government is the executive branch and cabinet of Finland, which directs the politics of Finland and is the main source of legislation proposed to the Parliament. The Government has collective ministerial responsibility and represents Finland in the Council of the European Union. In the incumbent Orpo Cabinet, the Government comprises 19 ministers leading 12 ministries.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Finland since 1 March 2017. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriages was approved by the Finnish Parliament in a vote of 101–90 on 12 December 2014 and signed into law by President Sauli Niinistö on 20 February 2015. Further legislation to harmonise other laws with the legalisation of same-sex marriage was passed in 2016. The law took effect on 1 March 2017. Finland was the last Nordic sovereign state to legalise same-sex marriage, the 13th country in Europe overall, and the 21st worldwide.

Incitement to ethnic or racial hatred is a crime under the laws of several countries.

Human rights in Finland are freedom of speech, religion, association, and assembly as upheld in law and in practice. Individuals are guaranteed basic rights under the constitution, by legislative acts, and in treaties relating to human rights ratified by the Finnish government. The constitution provides for an independent judiciary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law enforcement in Finland</span> Overview of law enforcement in Finland

Law enforcement in Finland is the responsibility of several agencies. The Police of Finland, a national police agency, is responsible for most tasks. The two other main agencies are the Finnish Border/Coast Guards and the Finnish Customs. Examples of other agencies with limited policing powers are the Finnish Defence Forces, municipal parking inspectors and railway staff.

Valtioneuvos is a Finnish title of honor awarded by the President of Finland to elder statesmen. It is one of two titles in the highest class of State of Finland honors. A tax on the titles of 48,400 euros or 12,100 euros must be paid by whoever proposes the title to a holder.

Åland is a part of Finland and is governed by the Constitution of Finland. The Constitution does mention Åland but immediately refers to the Autonomy Act of Åland. This is an ordinary act. However, its provisions affect constitutional rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Senate Properties</span> Finnish real estate company

Senate Properties is a Finnish unincorporated state-owned enterprise, which manages a major part of the real estate assets owned by the Republic of Finland.

Keva is the Finnish pension agency responsible for pensions of public sector workers in state, municipal, and state church positions. Keva is responsible for the pensions of 1.3 million workers, and has €35.8 billion in investments. The corporation is defined separately in the Municipal Pensions Act 13.6.2003/549.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauri Kaukonen</span>

Lauri Kaukonen was a Finnish Secretariate Counsellor, board member, business executive, teacher, lecturer, and author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Berner</span>

Anne-Catherine Berner is a Swiss-Finnish business executive, board professional, and the former Minister of Transport and Communications. In 2015, Berner was elected Member of the Finnish Parliament from the electoral district of Uusimaa as a non-attached candidate representing the Centre Party. Berner uses Swiss German as her mother tongue within the family, and is fluent in Finnish, Swedish, German, English and French.

Primary legislation and secondary legislation are two forms of law, created respectively by the legislative and executive branches of governments in representative democracies. Primary legislation generally consists of statutes, also known as 'acts', that set out broad principles and rules, but may delegate specific authority to an executive branch to make more specific laws under the aegis of the principal act. The executive branch can then issue secondary legislation, creating legally enforceable regulations and the procedures for implementing them.

Finlex is a website that publishes information on judicial affairs of Finland. The website is owned by the Ministry of Justice of Finland and operated by Edita Publishing Oy. Finlex offers a collection of Finnish laws and decrees, judgments of Finnish courts, international treaties concluded by Finland and government bills proposed by the Finnish government.

The Yle tax is a Finnish tax collected to fund the operation of the country's public broadcasting company, Yle. The tax has been collected since 2013, when it replaced the television licence payment. Rates vary from 140 to 3000 euros a year, depending on the amount of taxable income an organization has.

The principle of public access to official records in Scandinavia is the principle that everyone should have the right to take part in non-classified public records and the right to attend court proceedings. The principle of public access to official documents also means that government officials and other central and local government employees are free to divulge information.

References

  1. ↑ Oy, Edita Publishing. "FINLEX ® - Ajantasainen lainsäädäntö: 1734". www.finlex.fi.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-09-29. Retrieved 2017-09-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ↑ Oy, Edita Publishing. "FINLEX ® - Ajantasainen lainsäädäntö: Rikoslaki 39/1889". www.finlex.fi.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.