Originally from Collective Litigation in Europe: Law and Practice – Preview Page

1. INTRODUCTION

Sweden is a civil law system with some unique characteristics. It has, in
addition to typical civil law features such as prevalence of written laws and 
lack of stare decisis, some elements of the common law system: for instance 
civil proceedings that are more adversarial, or lack of European-style judicial 
review. The “extremely concentrated main trial hearing built on the 
principles of orality, immediacy, and concentration” is a central feature of 
Swedish civil proceedings. However, for commercial matters it is arbitration 
that is the preferred method of dispute resolution and for certain consumer, 
insurance, medical personal injury and tenancy matters specialized dispute 
resolution boards exist that can be characterized as ADR mechanisms.