History

The history of modern Swedish legal theory in many ways began with Axel Hägerström (1868-1939), Professor in practical philosophy at Uppsala University. In disagreement with the dominant ideas of the day, which descended from the former Uppsala Professor in practical philosophy Christopher Jacob Boström (1797-1866) and the boströmians in his retinue, Hägerström’s thoughts at the dawn of the century became foundational for the so-called new Uppsala school of philosophy (in contrast to Boström’s older school of philosophy), and inspirational for Scandinavian legal realism. Two early thinkers of the new Uppsala school were Vilhelm Lundstedt (1882-1955), Professor in private law at Uppsala University, and Karl Olivecrona (1897-1980), Professor in procedural law at Lund University, both former pupils of Hägerström’s. Ingemar Hedenius (1908-1982), Professor in practical philosophy at Uppsala University, was also fostered in the Uppsala school, though he would later become one of its critics. To the same generation of legal philosophers as Hedenius belonged Manfred Moritz (1909-1990), Professor in practical philosophy at Lund University.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Manfred Moritz was the leading force of that Nordic association for legal philosophy which in time became the Nordic section of the IVR. During the 1970’s, the association was split up with the result that each Nordic country now had its own IVR section. This was the formative moment of IVR Sweden. Today, Lena Wahlberg (f. 1974), Associate Professor in jurisprudence at Lund University is the President of IVR Sweden. She succeeded Patricia Mindus (b. 1976), Professor in practical philosophy at Uppsala University, who succeeded Christian Dahlman (b.1970), Professor in jurisprudence at Lund University, whose predecessor in turn was Åke Frändberg (b. 1937), Professor in jurisprudence at Uppsala University. Each year IVR Sweden organizes a national conference on varying legal theoretical topics. In 2003, it also hosted the 21st IVR World Congress in Lund. President of IVR (the international association) at the time of the congress was Aleksander Peczenik (1937-2005), Professor in jurisprudence at Lund University.