Av folket för folket?: Nämndemän som representanter 1832–2013
(2021) STVK02 20202Department of Political Science
- Abstract
- Lay judges within court systems are often proclaimed to be ‘representatives of the people’. Using Hanna Pitkins theoretical discussion of the concept of representation the present thesis examines what is and was meant by this proclamation in the case of Swedish lay judges (nämndemän). For this purpose, the thesis analyses the representative functions of lay judges as they are presented in governmental committee reports (Statens offentliga utredningar) and government propositions between the years 1832-2013. The thesis finds that the representative function of the lay judges was primarily symbolic during the period 1832-1948. The lay judges were supposed to be selected amongst the most competent and trustworthy men and were to instill trust... (More)
- Lay judges within court systems are often proclaimed to be ‘representatives of the people’. Using Hanna Pitkins theoretical discussion of the concept of representation the present thesis examines what is and was meant by this proclamation in the case of Swedish lay judges (nämndemän). For this purpose, the thesis analyses the representative functions of lay judges as they are presented in governmental committee reports (Statens offentliga utredningar) and government propositions between the years 1832-2013. The thesis finds that the representative function of the lay judges was primarily symbolic during the period 1832-1948. The lay judges were supposed to be selected amongst the most competent and trustworthy men and were to instill trust for the legal system in the people. The lay judges were also expected to act in defence of the popular view of justice. They were however not expected to be influenced by public opinion or adapt to the people’s wishes. Starting in the 1970-s and 1980-s the main problem with the Swedish judges has however instead come to be perceived as the lay judges being too un-representative (as in dissimilar) of the Swedish population at large. This signifies a shift towards an ideal in accord with descriptive representation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9033805
- author
- Johnsson, Viggo LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- STVK02 20202
- year
- 2021
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Representation, nämndemän, jury, Hanna Pitkin, Lagberedningen, Lagkommittén, Processkomissionen, lekmän, domare
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9033805
- date added to LUP
- 2021-05-11 15:32:01
- date last changed
- 2021-05-11 15:32:01
@misc{9033805,
abstract = {{Lay judges within court systems are often proclaimed to be ‘representatives of the people’. Using Hanna Pitkins theoretical discussion of the concept of representation the present thesis examines what is and was meant by this proclamation in the case of Swedish lay judges (nämndemän). For this purpose, the thesis analyses the representative functions of lay judges as they are presented in governmental committee reports (Statens offentliga utredningar) and government propositions between the years 1832-2013. The thesis finds that the representative function of the lay judges was primarily symbolic during the period 1832-1948. The lay judges were supposed to be selected amongst the most competent and trustworthy men and were to instill trust for the legal system in the people. The lay judges were also expected to act in defence of the popular view of justice. They were however not expected to be influenced by public opinion or adapt to the people’s wishes. Starting in the 1970-s and 1980-s the main problem with the Swedish judges has however instead come to be perceived as the lay judges being too un-representative (as in dissimilar) of the Swedish population at large. This signifies a shift towards an ideal in accord with descriptive representation.}},
author = {{Johnsson, Viggo}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Av folket för folket?: Nämndemän som representanter 1832–2013}},
year = {{2021}},
}