Per Stjernquist (1912–2005) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

law professor who was almost single-handedly responsible for establishing the teaching of the new field of

sociology of law The sociology of law (legal sociology, or law and society) is often described as a sub-discipline of sociology or an interdisciplinary approach within legal studies. Some see sociology of law as belonging "necessarily" to the field of sociology, ...

in Sweden from the 1960s. Stjernquist began his career as a local judge and court official. He became a doctoral student of the celebrated 'realist' jurist

Karl Olivecrona Karl Olivecrona (25 October 1897, in Norrbärke – 1980) was a Swedish lawyer and legal philosopher. He studied law at Uppsala from 1915 to 1920 and was a pupil of Axel Hägerström, the spiritual father of Scandinavian legal realism. One of the i ...

in the 1940s but, as a left-leaning liberal, soon fell out with his supervisor over Olivecrona's authoritarian politics and vocal support in the war years for

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

's hegemony in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. He was professor of civil law at

Lund University , motto = Ad utrumque , mottoeng = Prepared for both , established = , type = Public research university , budget = SEK 9 billion rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the university through the turbulent years of the late 1960s. His publications set the dominant orientation of

sociology of law, and he supervised generations of research students in the subject. His first seminar in sociology of law (established against determined opposition from the Law Faculty) was taught in 1963. The subject, then regarded by many jurists as subversive or unnecessary, was offered initially for administrative science students but soon attracted students from many disciplines. The Chair of Sociology of Law at Lund was created specially for him in 1972, as an initiative of the Swedish government. Stjernquist's work included important empirical studies of the legal mechanisms and policies of regulation of Swedish private forestry, which attempted to show the range of strategies by which law could influence social behaviour, as well as the constraints on law as a social mechanism. He was the son of professor and university rector Martin P:son Nilsson and Hanna Stjernquist. His wife was the archaeologist Berta Stjernquist (1918-2010), also a professor at Lund. Stjernquist was Inspector of the Kalmar 'nation' at his university from 1954 to 1996.

Bibliography

*Per Stjernquist, ''Laws in the Forests: A Study of Public Direction of Swedish Private Forestry''. Lund: CWK Gleerup (1973) *Per Stjernquist, ''Poverty on the Outskirts: On Cultural Impoverishment and Cultural Integration''. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell (1987) *Per Stjernquist, ''Forest Treatment: Relations to Nature of Swedish Private Forestry ''. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell (1992) *Per Stjernquist, ''Organized Cooperation Facing Law: An Anthropological Study''. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell (2000) *Per Stjernquist, ''Legal Contributions to the Structure of Civil Society''. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell (2004) *Antoinette Hetzler, "Sociology of Law in Sweden" in V. Ferrari (ed) ''Developing Sociology of Law: A World-wide Documentary Enquiry''. Milano: Giuffre (1990) *Roger Cotterrell, "Establishing Sociology of Law in Sweden" ''Socio-Legal Newsletter'' (UK Socio-Legal Studies Association) no. 23 Autumn (1997) *Roger Cotterrell, "Per Stjernquist 1912-2005" ''Socio-Legal Newsletter'' (UK Socio-Legal Studies Association) no. 48 Spring (2006) *Roger Cotterrell, "Northern Lights: From Swedish Realism to Sociology of Law" (2013) 40 Journal of Law and Society 657–69. 1912 births 2005 deaths Swedish jurists Rectors of Lund University Academic staff of Lund University {{Sweden-academic-bio-stub