Dear reader,

• Author: Peep Pruks
• Pages: 1-1

Dear reader,

Most ideas that we are convinced are absolutely original and belong only to us are not that at all. Thus I cannot recall who is the author of the following thought: when something is done for the first time, the majority notice it. If it is done once again, then one may already speak of a tradition, whereas the third time everything is ... forgotten, since it has become so natural. It is clear that the above is absolutely valid as regards the third publication of Juridica International. Excellent. There is nothing more enduring than things which come naturally.

The first special English-language edition of the journal Juridica by the Faculty of Law of the University of Tartu (founded in 1632) appeared at the end of 1996. That collection, intended mostly for foreign readers, mainly described the changes that had taken place and were then taking place in the Estonian legal order (legal reform). Last year, the second edition of the compilation was centred upon a scholarly in-depth investigation of individual legal problems, some of which were related to the current state of European integration. The present compilation analyses Estonia’s present legal system and its problems in the context of European integration and through the Estonian Constitution. Thus, this compilation, appearing for the third year, should be of interest to, inter alia, the countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Many problems are held in common, and the exchange of experience and mutual co-operation are very important.

Estonia has declared its desire to join the European Union. Thus, it is inevitable that the laws of the European Union will continue to gain an increasing influence over the Estonian legal system as a whole. There will first of all take place a convergence between Estonian laws and those of the European Union, and then the process of the harmonisation of the two legal systems will begin. In the coming years, the contours of the question of in which fields and to which extent Estonia will be able to harmonise its...