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(1904) Author: Gustav Sundbärg
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Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - First part - III. Constitution and Administration - 1. Constitution - Historical Account and present Constitution, by E. Hildebrand, Ph. D., Chief of the National Record Office, Stockholm

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constitution.

1<>9

presentation (the Council of lords spiritual and temporal, assemblies of nobility)
still existed, there were general assemblies organized, to which representatives of
the cities as well as of the peasantry were invited, and thus the Swedish Diet
(Bihadag) began to acquire a more permanent shape.

To defend itself from the evil effects of the union, the nation placed for long
periods a Protector of the Realm (Riksföreståndare) at the head of the
government. This confused state of affairs, however, rendered all steady progress in the
realizing of a workable organization of the body politic impossible. At the
close of the middle ages, matters stood about where they were at the beginning
of the 14th century in this regard.

At length, the union with Denmark was for ever brought to an end by the
appearance of Gustavus Vasa (1523/60) on the scene. Now, a powerful King
once more made himself and his sway felt, the Catholic church was owerthrown,
and the new Protestant religion was established under the authority of the King,
the independence of the provinces was destroyed, hereditary succession to the
crown was introduced (1544), and the unity of the State as snch became a reality.
The Kings of the Vasa Line completely organized the administration of the
State, crowned and ratified after Gustavus Adolphus’ death by the Constitution
Act of 1634. The Council of the Realm was transformed into a permanent
chamber of councilors, a Senate in the capital, and became more and more
distinct from the Riksdag. The latter, again, developed into an independent organ
of government in the reorganized and united body politic. Though for a long time
it was only summoned to meet on specially momentous occasions, it was
nevertheless a cooperating agent, during the internal struggles at the close of the
sixteenth century, in all the important alterations inaugurated then in the status
of the realm; it began to share, too, with the King in the legislation, and assumed
from the other forms of representation and the provincial assemblies — these now
vanishing — the right of decreeing taxes. The first Organic Law for the
Riksdag dates from 1617. The Riksdag was constituted by the Estates of the Realm,
from this time forth four in number. These were: the Nobility including both
the higher and lower orders — the nobility proper and the gentry — and
forming the House of Knights (Riddarhuset), in which all noble families had a right
to be represented, and where, moreover, representatives of the officers in the army
had seats; the Clergy; the Burgesses; and the Peasantry, the three last
consisting of delegates for the Church, the Towns, and the Peasant Landed Proprietors.
The Protestant Clergy, thanks to the prominent part they had played in the
internal struggles at the close of the 16th century, had acquired very considerable
influence as the upholders of intellectual culture and alone constituted one of the
four Chambers of the Riksdag.

Matters did not proceed, however, in an even course of normal development
during the whole of the 17th century, for two regencies, extending together over
almost a quarter of a century, involved interruptions that brought with them
a degree of irregularity and discontinuity as regarded the external forms of
government; contemporaneously, too, arose strife of parties between the Estates.
These contentions lasted for upwards of thirty years (1650/82) and concluded
with a partial victory for the lower Estates. At a time of great financial
em-barassment for the Crown, an Act of resumption was forced through the Riksdag
in the reign of Charles XI, by which all grants from the Royal Estate were annulled,
especially the great fiefs of Counts and Barons. This victory for the lower Estates
was obtained, however, at a high price, for at the same time devolved into the
King’s hands absolute power. The Riksdag was summoned to meet, it is true,
at intervals, but only for the purpose of giving assent to the King’s proposals, and
Charles XII (reigning 1697/1718) ruled without a parliament, exercising in his own
person the rights of legislating and of taxing.

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