The right of public access to the wilderness, or everyman's right, is a convention of property rights in the Nordic countries of Sweden, Finland and Norway, which allows the common public the right of access to the land, be it public or privately owned. Allemansrätten is the Swedish spelling, in Norwegian it is spelled Allemannsretten. The Finnish term is jokamiehenoikeus (singular nominative form) or jokamiehenoikeudet (plural nominative form). This page deals with property as ownership rights. ... The Nordic countries (Greenland not shown) The Nordic countries is a term used collectively for five countries in Northern Europe. ... The Republic of Finland (Finnish: Suomen tasavalta, Swedish: Republiken Finland) is a Nordic country in northeastern Europe, bordered by the Baltic Sea to the southwest, the Gulf of Finland to the southeast and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west. ... The Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country on the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering Sweden, Finland and Russia, with territorial waters bordering Danish and British waters. ... Swedish (svenska  listen?) is a Scandinavian language language spoken predominantly in Sweden, Finland and Åland by over 8 million native speakers. ... Norwegian is a Germanic language spoken in Norway. ... Finnish is spoken by the majority (92%) in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. ...

History

The historical roots for the convention can be found in that the right of appeal, in ancient times, included the opportunity of putting one's matter directly to the king. It was important that the ability to exercise this right could not be prohibited or prevented by material means, such as the ability to travel freely. The convention has never been codified but retains its validity as a customary law. In law, custom, or customary law consists of established patterns of behaviour that can be objectively verified within a particular social setting. ...

Recreation

The convention is today the basis for recreation in these of the Nordic countries, providing the possibility to hike or camp on someone else's land (for up to three nights), to travel by boat on somebody else's waters, and to pick the wild flowers, mushrooms and berries. However — with the rights follows responsibility, i.e. the obligation to do no harm, not to litter, not to damage rocks or crops. The Nordic countries (Greenland not shown) The Nordic countries is a term used collectively for five countries in Northern Europe. ...

There are minor differences between the rules in the different countries. In Sweden exercising of the rights is overseen by the Swedish National Environmental Protection Agency.

External links

• Allemansrätten: Swedish National Environmental Protection Agency (http://www.allemansratten.se/) (In Swedish)
  • Information in English (http://www.allemansratten.se/templates/firstPage.asp?id=2058)
• Allemansrätten: tourist information (http://www.sverigeturism.se/smorgasbord/smorgasbord/natrecspo/nature/every.html)