Law of Denmark
The right of Denmark is the sum judicially enforceable social norms in Denmark.
- 5.1 Company law
Legal History
The Danish legal history is characterized by strong fragmentation of the law for a long time. A reception of Roman law, which resulted in other European countries to a certain degree of legal unit has hardly taken place. From the late Middle Ages were in larger territorial units called territorial laws that were gradually supplemented by imperial legislation - a trend that is reinforced with absolutism since 1660. Legal records of the territorial laws, the Scanian law, Zeeland law, Jutland law and handwritten by Erich and Waldemar legal records. An exception is the Jutland law, which was enacted in 1241 by Valdemar II.
Make an incision in the Danish legal history, the Reformation in 1536 dar. The strengthened at the expense of the church king issued to the Imperial Council newly founded kingdom of numerous laws. The royal court, the court Thing, earned high reputation; many of its decisions have been preserved until today. True legal entity was created in Denmark until the introduction of absolutism in 1683 by the adoption of Danske Lov, the first European codification in the local language. The influence of other European jurisprudence, particularly the doctrine of natural law and the Enlightenment, was reinforced. The doctrine of separation of powers was already in 1700, at least so far implemented, as in fact happened the exercise of state powers by various state officials. Lege, the right to freedom of expression, general assembly and association, freedom of religion, the principle nulla poena sine and the right to a lawful judge prevailed gradually and were finally admitted formally in the constitution of 1849.
The level of the Danish legal education was for a long time significantly lower than the other European states: Notwithstanding the establishment of the University of Copenhagen 1479 Danish students could still get a solid education in 1600 only abroad. This was transformed with the introduction of the State examination for all judges, lawyers and civil servants in 1736, which should be the basis for improved management of the centralized State.
In the 19th century continues particularly the French code had a major European legal cultures in Denmark, civil. The scientific processing and systematization of law was based on the German Pandektenwissenschaft, especially to Friedrich Carl von Savigny and Rudolf von Ihering, in criminal law to Franz Liszt. The towering figure in science and practice in Denmark itself was at the beginning of the 19th century Anders Sandoe Oersted. Following the example of the German Jurists and the English Society for the promotion of social sciences emerged in 1872, the Nordic Lawyers meetings ( De Nordiske Juristenmøder ) that are the basis for the comprehensive legal cooperation between the Nordic countries up to the present. As important results of this work are: the exchange Act of 1880, laws on the commercial register, company, and power of attorney 1881 trademark law in 1884 and 1890, and a new Seegesetz 1887.
At the beginning of the 20th century gave way to liberalism and individualism as the basic principles of private law in favor of strong state intervention. The social reforms of the last years of the 19th century formed the basis for the so-called Scandinavian model and were further expanded in the 1930s: in 1890 led to a general pension is means- principle and a work accident insurance, 1892, influenced by the Bismarckian social reform health insurance model. 1933 was followed by other major reforms: social security, accident insurance, job placement and unemployment insurance.
Sources of law
Until the first half of the 20th century, the Danish law identified five sources of law:
Under the influence of the work of Alf Ross' has lost its validity, this classification. Ross put it based on the degree of objectification and defined three groups:
The analogy has lost its recognition as a source of law ever since. The same is required in the modern doctrine of the nature of the matter in question, is only supposed to be design method. Other voices in the literature want to expand the canon of legal sources to the scientific literature.
Organisation of justice
Public law
The Danish law differs as the continental European legal systems between public law and private law. Until about 1800, there were the private right next to the person, family, inheritance, property and contract law and the criminal and procedural law. Meanwhile include these areas next to the State constitutional and administrative law to public law. The general administrative law learned only in the 20th century, an appreciation that is relevant to the reception of German administrative law and its scientific analysis owed by Otto Mayer. The long shadows of administrative law to the State constitutional and police and regulatory law can be seen in connection with the formation of a late own administrative jurisdiction.