Dear reader

• Author: Paul Varul
• Pages: 1-2

1

JURIDICA INTERNATIONAL 23/2015

Dear reader,

The f‌i rst issue of Juridica International was published in 1996, meaning that we

can now celebrate the journal’s 20-year anniversary. Peep Pruks, dean of the Fac-

ulty of Law at that time and the editor and head of publisher Iuridicum Foundation

throughout the years, started the foreword of the f‌i rst Juridica International with

the following words: ‘The purpose of Juridica International is to give an overview of

[the] Estonian legal system and report on the developments in legal reform’*1. The

journal has fulf‌i lled this purpose for the full 20 years of its existence thus far, while

the objectives have become somewhat wider and more ambitious. In addition to

the developments in justice in Estonia, Juridica International has addressed global

legal problems, mainly those arising within the European Union.

In the mid-’90s, the main issue facing Estonian jurisprudence surrounded the

creation of a new legal system in the wake of the 1991 re-establishment of Estonian

national independence. After Estonia become a European Union membership can-

didate in 1995 and then a member state in 2004, harmonisation of Estonian legis-

lation with that of the European Union, alongside the law of the European Union

itself, gained increasing focus. The harmonisation of Estonia’s law with the law of

the European Union largely coincided with the intense work to create Estonia’s new

legal system. Therefore, in numerous cases, there was no need for harmonising an

existing act with the law of the European Union – the EU law was taken into account

in the preparation of the new acts. With the new legal system mostly completed as

the 2000s rolled in, our objective was no longer so much to provide an introduc-

tion to Estonian law as to participate in international discussion of important legal

issues. We are very glad that the authors contributing to Juridica International

include many internationally recognised lawyers, which is why the main focus of the

journal has shifted from expounding on Estonian law to addressing issues of greater

international relevance. The primary emphasis has been on developments in the law

of the European Union, including the possibilities for harmonisation across the vari-

ous f‌i elds of law in the countries of Europe*2. However, Estonian law has not been

neglected. Estonia’s new legal system is special in that, in its creation, mainly for

establishment of the new private law, international models, among them the Prin-

ciples of European Contract Law and the Principles of Commercial Contracts, have

been used as relevant sources. Therefore, the Estonian example can be utilised for

monitoring the actual eff‌i ciency of the so-called sample provisions and principles –

the effects in practice. The Estonian experience may, accordingly, prove interesting

also for legislators in other countries. In a way, Juridica International has become a

chronicle that ref‌l ects the 20 years over which a new legal system for a country has

been built, in tandem with its combination with the legal system of the European

Union. It enables one to observe that in today’s Europe, increasing numbers of legal

issues are similar between countries, and it shows how the law has become global in

nature. I am extremely pleased that the international readership of Juridica Inter-

national has increased steadily throughout the years. Since January 2002, our read-

ers have had the opportunity to access the online version of the journal, with more

1 See Juridica International 1996, p. 1.

2 Let us note here that the f‌i rst article in the f‌i rst issue of Juridica International was the paper

by Prof. Heiki Pisuke titled ‘Estonia and the European Union: European Integration in Estonia’

(Juridica International 1996, pp. 2–5).

http://dx.doi.org/10.12697/JI.2015.23.00