part iv • intellectual legal history • lars björne Still, we must ask if there is a Nordic unity, or at least a specific Nordic diversity? When Carl Jacob Arnholm (1899–1976), professor at the University of Oslo, wanted to characterize mid century Nordic legal science he used the saying, ‘It is difficult to define an elephant, but I know him when I see him.’ The Nordic legal elephant is a fact, but how to define it? It is clear that the Nordic legal science of the early nineteenth century, the age of Ørsted and Schweigaard, was realistic, designed to help the practice of the courts and the lawyers. There were very few Nordic legal scientists, and they were needed in politics and for legislative work; there was no place for pure theoreticians as at the German universities. At the end of the nineteenth century a Danish legal scientist made the apposite remark that the truth generally could be found in the middle, and that the legal literature usually preferred the happy medium. The Danish advocate Berndt Hjejle (1901–1994) wrote in his short book Nordisk Retsfælleskab (1946, ‘Nordic Legal Unity’) that the defence of the individual against the state authorities and an avoidance of extremes, inflexible logic, and empty rhetoric were characteristic of Nordic legal thinking. He also said that Nordic lawyers took into account any realistic argument in order to find a suitable compromise. Objectivity and equality were important features which according to him dated back to the mediaeval codes. The Nordic lawyers’ sense of solidarity was at its strongest in the five years between the end of the Second World War and the end point for my study of Nordic legal science, 1950. I elected to go no further into the second half of the twentieth century –Zeitgeschichte is not my cup of tea – but I would nevertheless like to share a couple of thoughts. Internationalization and the connections to the Anglo-American legal systems have weakened inter-Nordic legal unity in recent decades, while the expansion of EUlegislation has practically put an end to Nordic collaborations on draft legislation. On the other hand, the meetings of Nordic lawyers every third year still has many hundreds of participants, and other more informal meetings, especially academic symposiums, are common and well attended. 196
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