Sámi Law: A Methodological Approach

• Author: Kristina Labba
• Position: Faculty of Law
• Pages: 393-410

© 2020 Kristina Labba. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-

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Citation: Kristina Labba. “Sámi Law: A Methodological Approach” Arctic Review on Law and Politics,

Vol. 11, 2020, pp. 215–232. http://dx.doi.org/10.23865/arctic.v11.2431

Arctic Review on Law and Politics

Vol. 11, 2020, pp. 215–232

215

*Correspondence to: Kristina Labba, email: kristina.labba@uit.no

Peer-reviewed article

Sámi Law: A Methodological Approach1

Kristina Labba

Faculty of Law, UiT The Arctic University of Norway

Abstract

Sámi law is the law of the Indigenous Sámi people. The territor y where Sámi have historically

lived is called Sápmi and encompasses parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. This article

builds on the premise that Sámi law exists in Sápmi, in parallel with national laws. However, in

terms of methodology and content, the scope of research on Sámi law compared to research about

Indigenous law in Canada is limited. This ar ticle rst describes an Indigenous law research meth-

odology which approaches stories as a source of Indigenous law. The methodology was developed

in Canada and applied to the Canadian Access to Justice and Reconciliation Project. The article

then discusses this research methodology in relation to Sámi law.

Keywords: Sámi law; Sápmi; research methodology

Responsible Editor: Nigel Bankes, Faculty of Law, University of Calgary, Canada

Received: May 2020; Accepted: June 2020; Published: December 2020

1 Introduction

Sámi legal scholarship is a young eld of knowledge.2 Research produced therein

mainly analyzes and describes the rights and duties that Sámi have collectively and

individually according to relevant national and international law.3 Consequently,

research in this area mainly builds on methodologies and methods developed for

studies of national and international law. Sámi legal scholarship includes, to a lesser

extent, research on Sámi law.4 This article argues that more research on Sámi law

is needed and that it should examine issues such as how to identify, analyze and

express Sámi law, how Sámi law relates to national law, and how a recognition of

Sámi law would benet both Sámi and non-Sámi populations.5

This article was inspired by developments in Canada where academic interest

in rebuilding and revitalizing Indigenous peoples’ laws and legal traditions has

Kristina Labba

216

increased over the last two decades, mainly among legal scholars.6 Research con-

ducted in Canada has examined, for instance: research methodologies appropriate

to studies of Indigenous legal orders; contemporary examples of Indigenous legal

principles in action; the relationship between Indigenous legal orders and state-

based law; and approaches to transmitting and teaching Indigenous law. Scholars in

Canada agree that recognizing and revitalizing Indigenous law is an extremely valu-

able project that can support the survival of distinct Indigenous societies, thereby

allowing Indigenous peoples to move away from colonial control and take control of

their own governance.7

This article has two main objectives. The rst is to briey describe the research

methodology developed by Friedland and Napoleon and applied to the Canadian

Access Justice and Reconciliation Project (AJR Project) launched in 2012.8 These

two legal scholars emphasize that their work it is not about a specic outcome,

but rather about developing an approach to rebuild the intellectual resources and

political space for symmetrical, reciprocal, and respectful conversations within and

between Indigenous law and national law.9

This article’s second objective is to study and reect on Friedland’s and Napo-

leon’s Indigenous law research methodology in relation to Sámi law. While this arti-

cle assumes that Sámi law exists in parallel with national laws in Norway, Sweden,

Finland, and Russia, here the research methodology is only used in relation to Sámi

law in Norway.

The examples presented in this article, which are used to briey illustrate why

more research on Sámi law is needed, are mainly drawn from or relate to Sámi rein-

deer husbandry. This is a traditional Sámi livelihood, the practice of which is pro-

tected in various ways by national and international law in Norway. Norway’s ofcial

position is that the Sámi people are the Indigenous people of Norway and that the

nation state of Norway is based on the territory of both Norwegians and Sámi. Nor-

wegian legislation states that Sámi have a right to conduct reindeer husbandry in

the so called reindeer husbandry area (det samiske reinbeiteområdet), based on Sámi

immemorial use (alders tids bruk). Moreover, relevant international law provides pro-

tection against resource extraction which would make it considerably difcult or

impossible to conduct traditional reindeer herding on the land area in question.10

Despite this seemingly well-developed legal protection, Sámi reindeer herders face

many challenges in practice. Two of the main challenges are considered to be the loss

of reindeer to predators and the loss of essential land and water resources to compet-

ing interests, such as windmill parks and infrastructure projects.11 In some areas the

scale of these losses makes it impossible to continue Sámi reindeer husbandry.12 The

last section of this article briey addresses whether extended research on Sámi law,

carried out in accordance with Friedland and Napoleon’s research methodology,

could help, for instance, illuminate differences between relevant national law on the

one hand, and Sámi law pertaining to reindeer husbandry on the other, with the goal

of strengthening the relationship between them.