In this book we have gathered a number of prominent scholars who analyze the developments of information and law from their respective perspective. The papers were first presented at a colloquium at the Faculty of Law, Uppsala University in September 2014.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part of the book is comprised of the contributions having a more general scope; developments within a new landscape, regulatory matters and questions relating to security, technology and information. The second part sets information and law in contexts and focuses towards more specific matters; fundamental rights in a new context, issues relating to the right to be forgotten and finally, welfare, health and research.

The Internet and other information and communication technologies have created exciting new possibilities for connecting individuals across borders and continents. The new technologies also raise significant legal, ethical and political concerns. The Internet has thus permitted the instantaneous dissemination of information as well as created an entirely new arena for hate speech. New information and communication technologies have made possible the creation of large registries and databases with the potential to lead to effective cross-border law enforcement, foster important new research as well as unwarranted mapping of individual persons’ private life. How society responds to this can have an impact on how we perceive democracy, and the realization of the rule of law, as well as on transparency and legitimacy in communication between individuals and states. It also affects the relationship between the public sphere and the individual.

Internationaliseringen av det rättsliga landskapet gör att rättsväsendet allt oftare konfronteras med folkrätten. Det visar sig dock att trots ett hårt internationellt tryck är svenska jurister fortsatt försiktiga i sitt förhållningssätt till folkrätten. I förvånansvärt låg grad och häpnadsväckande slumpmässigt slår folkrätten igenom i rättstillämpningen. I denna volym efterlyses därför en mer välinformerad och kompetent hantering av folkrätten från rättsväsendets sida. Den grundläggande frågan om folkrättens ställning i svensk rätt handlar om demokrati och om makten över rätten. Förhoppningen är att denna bok ska stimulera till en debatt om detta viktiga och aktuella ämne.

The constitutionally-based right of access to documents has a long history in Sweden and is considered crucial to Swedish democracy. On entering the EU in 1995, Sweden declared that public access to official records forms part of Sweden's constitutional, political and cultural heritage. The members of the EU for their part declared that they took it for granted that Sweden would fully comply with Community (now Union) law with respect to openness and transparency. Sweden continues to push for transparency when EU legislation that potentially contains secrecy clauses is negotiated. It turns out, however, that EU membership does pose challenges to the strong Swedish right of access to documents. The protection of personal data is controversial in Sweden to the extent that the stricter EU legislation clashes with the traditionally weak protection of privacy in Swedish law; the Swedish right of access to information has largely outweighed the right to privacy. Large amounts of publicly available personal data are amassed in databases by private actors for commercial reasons, under the protection of the Swedish constitution. This is causing problems, especially since Sweden considers Swedish constitutional law to precede EU legislation in the field of access to information. Sweden will somehow have to solve the dilemmas caused by the differing traditions of transparency between itself and other EU member states. Official Swedish inquiries and the EU Regulation will provide many answers to these questions in 2016.

This paper starts with the respective judgments of the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) in Kadi and Al Barakaat and of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Behrami and Saramati. Through this and subsequent case law the paper aims at analyzing and comparing the seemingly contradictory stands taken by the EU General Court, the ECJ and the ECtHR on the relationship between the regional European legal orders and the global UN legal order in matters relating to international peace and security. In the later al-Skeini and al-Jedda judgments there are signs that the ECtHR is modifying its position with respect to the relationship between the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN legal order. It seems as if the ECtHR is getting closer to the ECJ’s approach, or at least is modifying its position in a way which is easier to reconcile with the ECJ’s approach. The recent judgment in Nada confirms the new turn. The analysis of the trends in the case law of the three European courts will include a discussion of the possible effects that the approaching accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights might have on the positions taken.

This contribution explores Grotian Moments in the practice of the UN Security Council in three different but closely related subject areas. The three areas are, in turn, the way the Security Council interprets the concept of ‘threat to the peace’ or more generally ‘international peace and security’, the law-making by the Security Council, and the subjects – in the sense of legal or natural persons – that the Security Council chooses to address. It turns out that the interpretation by the Security Council of the UN Charter has been remarkably flexible, expanding the scope of action of the Council considerably. Whether its interpretation of the UN Charter also deserves to be labelled ‘Grotian’, however, is rather a matter of rhetoric than law.