Customary law in Norway

Whether inter partes related customs are the positive law of the land is not just a factor distinguishing civil law societies from common law societies. The legal status of these customs also varies amongst different civil law countries. For example, Sweden terminated Saami customary laws in the mid-nineteenth century. Norway, on the other hand, by the King Christian V General Codex of 1687 (Norske lov), abolished ancient statutes only. Ancient customary laws were then tacitly recognized. Norway never followed in Sweden's footsteps, and as a result Norwegian customary laws are a valid legal source.

Danish legal scholar Alf Ross asserts that customary law exists as norms derived from de facto customary ways of acting. The place to find these norms is in the court decisions. He seems to think that certain habits, which the general population both observes and recognizes, are validated by court decisions. These observable habits are the bearers of opinio necessitatis sive obligationis (a popular understanding of law), which is a feeling of being bound by and forced to adhere to a certain way of conduct (see Sections 7.1.2 and 7.1.3). Nevertheless, the fact that people acquiesce and conform their conduct can give a false sense that the practice followed also mirrors the required “common will.” Since the social facts of behavioral attitudes should not be confused with institutional facts, one simply cannot draw any conclusions as to what people should do based upon what they actually do.