As Norad prepares to track Santa and his reindeer as they travel the world, I note that the movement of reindeer has been a regulated issue in the Northern countries of Europe for centuries. Ever since the nation states were created, the indigenous Sami have had to abide by national and international treaty rules governing …
December 6, 1919, was the first year Finland celebrated its Declaration of Independence with a national holiday. That same year it also adopted the Constitution of 1919 officially making Finland a Republic with K.J. Stahlberg as its first president. This post describes the Constitution of 1919.
While researching one issue related to laws in my jurisdictional portfolio I often come across another interesting piece of information. For instance, while reading about the Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf’s decision to revoke the royal highness titles for five of his grandchildren, I realized that today, November 7, 2019, marks the 40th anniversary of the amendment to …
November is celebrated as National American Indian Heritage Month in the United States. In addition to our guide to Indigenous Law Resources online for U.S.-centric sources on indigenous law, the Law Library also holds a number of international and foreign law resources on indigenous law in other countries. For instance, earlier this year, the Global Legal …
On September 17, 1809, 210 years ago today, Sweden and Russia signed the Treaty of Fredrikshamn (Finnish: Hamina), marking the end of the Finnish war of 1808-1809 and also the end of the Sweden-Finland era. Finland had been part of Sweden since 1323, when another peace treaty between Novgorod (Russia) and Sweden, the Peace of Pähkinäsaari …
An overview of the Council of the European Union, including its powers and figurations, and especially an explanation of the Rotating Presidency whereby each EU member country holds the presidency of the council for a six month period.
On this day 170 years ago, the Danish King Frederik VII signed the Danish Constitution of 1849, creating a constitutional monarchy. Thus, today marks Grundlovsdagen (Constitution Day). Although a national and bank holiday, the day is not such a grand affair as Constitution Day of Norway. This year may be different, though, as Denmark holds its …