Stenlund on Sweden, Rule-of-Law Talk, and the US Right

On Tuesday, April 28, 15:00-16:30, Helsinki time, which is seven hours ahead of EDT, Karolina Stenlund, a lecturer at the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki, the holder of a doctoral degree in law, and a former visiting doctoral researcher at Harvard Law School, will present in the Helsinki Legal History Series seminar:

My presentation for HLHS will be on an article that examines the uneasy relationship between the rule of law and democratic backsliding through a legal-historical case study of Sweden. Challenging the conventional assumption that legality and the rule of law inherently safeguard democracy, the article traces how early rule-of-law discourse and rights-based litigation in Sweden emerged not from left-wing civil rights activism but from a right-libertarian legal movement inspired by U.S. public-interest law firms. Through an analysis of the landmark 2006 "Uppsala case" and the intellectual and strategic foundations behind it, the article shows how concepts such as equality and the rule of law were mobilized to expand judicial power and reshape the balance between courts and the political branches. By situating these developments within Sweden's unique political and constitutional history, the article highlights how legal strategies aimed at strengthening individual rights can simultaneously redistribute political power in ways that complicate dominant narratives of democratic resilience. The piece forms part of an ongoing research project and should be read as work in progress.

Online attendance (listen-only) here.

--Dan Ernst

Kuokkanen on Dispossessing the Sámi

Rauna Kuokkanen, University of Lapland, has posted From Indigenous Private Property to Full Dispossession: The Peculiar Case of Sápmi:

The concept of dispossession has become ubiquitous in contemporary critical theory, including analyses of settler colonialism and Indigenous scholarship. It suggests that in addition to being colonized, Indigenous peoples have been deprived of their lands and territorial foundations of their societies. Critics, however, allege that theories and arguments of Indigenous dispossession are inconsistent, arguing that Indigenous peoples did not have conceptions of land as property or possession. The critics' question goes, how can there be an act of dispossession if there was no prior possession or Indigenous concept of ownership? This article examines a case where there was both prior possession and a concept of ownership adopted by and extended to an Indigenous people, the Sámi, and upheld by the colonial court system. I ask, what can the Sámi case of individual (family) land ownership tell us about the concept of dispossession, Indigenous conceptions of ownership and property? The objective is to demonstrate how the concept of dispossession has different histories in different contexts, and how individual land ownership has not historically been alien to Indigenous peoples.

--Dan Ernst

Studies in the History of Tax Law

New from Hart Publishing: Studies in the History of Tax Law, Volume 11, edited by Peter Harris and Dominic de Cogan:

This book is a continuation of the prestigious series which is drawn from the papers of the biennial Cambridge Tax Law History Conference. The authors are a mix of academics and senior tax professionals from the judiciary and practice with representatives from 9 countries. The series continues to investigate current tax policy debates in an historical context. The papers fall within three basic categories:

1.  UK and Irish tax, looking at a variety of topics such as tax administration, cases and judges (Whitney, Singer, Viscount Radcliffe), the taxation of royal forests, the taxation of spirits, and income tax transition in the Irish Free State; 

2.  International taxation, with chapters on the role of international organisations (OECD, League of Nations) and on South Africa's early attempts to address double taxation (tax treaties); and 

3.  Non-UK tax systems, including chapters on the legacy of colonial influence (Dutch East Indies), early developments in China, New Zealand, and the USA, an influential Canadian report (Carter Commission), development of the GAAR in Scandanavia, and the receipt of Roman tax law in Europe.

--Dan Ernst.  Table of Contents after the jump.

Weekend Roundup

• From the Los Angeles Times: an op-ed by Kristin Collins (Boston University Law), Serena Mayeri (Penn Law), and Hiroshi Motomura (UCLA Law). They bring a historical perspective to bear on current immigration policy and the family separations occurring at the U.S.-Mexico border.

• From History News Network, a roundup of commentary on Juneteenth.

• From the Washington Post's "Made by History" section: Allison K. Lange (Wentworth Institute of Technology) on the Equal Rights Amendment - is it on "the verge of a comeback"?; Also Lauren MacIvor Thompson (Kennesaw State University) and Lina-Maria Murillo (University of Iowa) on "The Trump Administration's Assault on Contraception"; Christian Hosam (New America) on "The Supreme Court's long war against voting rights."

• From the New York Times: Annette Gordon-Reed (Harvard Law) on a new exhibit at Monticello, in which "Sally Hemings Takes Center Stage."

•  Now available from the DC Public Libraries: over 600 images documenting the 1968 Poor People's Campaign.

• Aaron T. Knapp reviews former LHB Guest Blogger Gautham Rao’s National Duties in the latest issue of Law and Social Inquiry.

• From the newsletter of the SEC Historical Society: “Maybe you've heard of the Buttonwood Agreement, an effort to organize securities trading in 1792 and preceding the formation of the New York Stock and Exchange Board...but have you ever seen it?”

• Coming up: a workshop on "Cultural Expertise in Ancient and Modern History," convened by Livia Holden at Oxford's Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, July 4-5, 2018. Participants will explore dispute resolution and cultural expertise in legal history, while also tracing the historical development of recent trends in cultural expertise. More here.

• And later this summer: a 900-year commemoration of the first Icelandic laws, the Hafliðaskrá, at the 17th International Saga Conference in Reykjavik and Reykhold (Aug.12-17, 2018). Otto Vervaart has a handy overview at his Rechtsgeschiedenis Blog.

Weekend Roundup is a weekly feature compiled by all the Legal History bloggers.