Ola Wiklund has been an assigned legal expert in the legislative committee of Constitutional damages.
As of August 19th, the Swedish Government Official Report (SOU 2020:44) on constitutional damages where published. The matter has been a subject of debate for many years, relating to the fundamental rights and freedoms laid out in Chapter 2 of the Instrument of Government (1974:152).
The Committee of Inquiry was to consider an expansion of the compensation from public authorities for damage caused by violations of Chapter 2 of the Constitution, and whether the right to compensation should be regulated in law. The judgement in the case ’Citizenship I’ in the Supreme Court does not give a clear picture about which fundamental rights and freedoms can be successfully cited in a damages case.
Thoughts on the conclusion
Dr. Ola Wiklund, head of Wiklund law firm, acted as an expert on the Committee drafting the report. Here he shares his thoughts on the conclusions of the report:
“The legal policies relating to the constitutional role of the Swedish courts show great resemblance amongst the Swedish parties of parliament. The presence of both the EU and the legal aspects of society has been growing for some time now and has also been laid down in the Instrument of Government, the EU membership being explicitly mentioned there. Further, the right to judicial review is expanded through the abolishment of the so-called requirement of obviousness, the position of the examination by the Council on Legislation is strengthened and the protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms is widened. The law constituting aspects of the courts are today openly accepted. In comparison with the preparatory work of the Instrument of Government, dating back to 1974, it is therefore just to talk about a paradigm shift. Most interesting is probably how all parties of parliament appears to stand behind this new constitutional stance. Illustrated for example through the common ground shared by the parties of parliament in relation to the cross-party inquires of questions of court control of legislative decisions.”
Read the complete
report of the Committee on Constitutional Torts (report in Swedish, summary in English).
