the rule of law as a criterion for europe In her definition of the Rechtsstaat, Letto-Vanamo also mentioned an active civil society. Civil society is the sum of the non-governmental organizations and institutions that represent citizens’ interests. On an international level, civil society is reliant on cross-border exchange and personal relationships. In this respect, I would like to mention the great efforts made by Letto-Vanamo in the project Legal history on the edge of Europe: Nordic law in the European legal community, 1000–2000(REUNA), ensuring that my generation of legal historians in the Nordic countries know one another and collaborate on various projects. This network also has given access to participation in further networks in legal history beyond the Nordic countries. As regards the Rechtsstaat, an important question is how to establish robust institutions. They need the support of civil society, and therefore civil society needs to know about the historical background and the value of the Rechtsstaat. The independence of judges can also be strengthened and supported through networks and informal cooperation. One way that constitutional values have historically been implemented is by spelling them out in literature, art, and architecture.17 In theTales of Ensign Stål, Johan Ludvig Runeberg wrote about a provincial governor, Olof Wibelius, who defended the law against a Russian general, Friedrich Wilhelmvon Buxhoeveden. The context was that Buxhoeveden ordered the provincial governors in Finland to confiscate the houses of Swedish officers and their families, but Wibelius refused because such a decision was illegal.18 In the poem, which was based on a true story except that the two men communicated by letter rather than in person, the general has come to Wibelius’ office: 17 See, for example, Kjell Å. Modéer &Martin Sunnqvist (eds.), Legal Stagings: The Visualization, Medialization &Ritualization of Law in Language, Literature, Media, Art &Architecture (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 2012); Stefan Huygebaert et al. (eds.), Sensing the Nation’s Law: Historical Inquiries into the Aesthetics of Democratic Legitimacy(Cham: Springer, 2018); Stefan Huygebaert et al. (eds.), The Art of Law: Artistic Representations and Iconography of Law and Justice in Context, from the Middle Ages to the First World War (Cham: Springer, 2018). 18 Markku Tyynilä, ‘Olof Wibelius’, inBiografiskt lexikon för Finland, i: Svenska tiden (2008), www.blf.fi/artikel.php?id=5575. 295
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