(Studies in the History of Law and Justice) 1st ed. 2020 Edition
by Juhana Mikael Salojärvi (Author)
This book investigates the origins and development of human rights
discourse in Finnish legal scholarship in the twentieth century. It
provides a detailed account of how human rights were understood before
they had legal relevance in a positivist sense, how they were adapted to
Finnish legal thinking in the post-Second World War decades, how they
developed into a mode of legal rhetoric and a type of legal argument
during the 1970s and 1980s, and how they eventually became a significant
paradigm in legal thinking in the 1990s. The book also demonstrates how
rights discourse infiltrated the discussion regarding problems that
were previously addressed in arguments concerning morals, social justice
and equity.
Although the book focuses on the history of Finnish
legal scholarship, it is also interesting from a global perspective for
two reasons: Firstly, it demonstrates how an idea of international law
is transplanted and diffused into national legal thinking; Finland is an
illustrative example in this regard. Secondly, it offers insights into
the general history of human rights.
