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self-government of the communities.
249
However, by the statutes of 1862 now in force, ecclesiastical and lay
matters are strictly separated. Here we have only to concern
ourselves with lay communities, for under the heading of »The Church»
there will be found an account of church parishes.
Independent municipal administration in Sweden is of hoar antiquity. The
freemen themselves in the oldest times managed the business of the village,
hundred, and province at their meetings (ting); but when the various provinces
were fused into a kingdom, a large part of this popular administration passed
into the hands of State officials, or of church rectors and noble patrons in the
country. Vestries as authoritative and Church councils as executive authorities
have, however, existed since the time of the Reformation, although what had been
customary from time immemorial was more fully established by royal decree in
1817. In 1843, a Parochial Board (sockennämnd) was established for transacting
matters not concerning Common Schools or the Church. On March 21, 1862,
were passed the decrees now in force regarding both lay and church
self-government, divided into four distinct laws; on May 23 that same year a particular law
was made with regard to the city of Stockholm.
A) Every town and, as a rule, every country parish constitutes
a Community (Kommun). In 1899, the total number of such
communities amounted to 2,496, of which 92 were town and 2,404 were country
ones. The communities, on an average, comprise about 2,000
inhabitants (in the country about 1,700, in towns close upon 12,000), and
the country communities, on an average, comprise an area of 190 square
kilometers (in the six most northerly Läns about 1,000, in the rest
only 75; a sq. kilom. = 0-38 6 sq. mile).
For the town-like places risen in recent years in many parts of the country,
adjacent to manufactories, railway-stations etc., a special statute has been passed,
which in certain cases bestows on them a municipal administration of their own,
whilst in other respects they still belong to the community in which they are situated.
The total number of such places amounts to about 120.
B) The Suffrage is rather widely extended, inasmuch as everyone
(both men and women) possesses it who owns real estate (however
insignificant it may be) or who rents real estate or, finally, who pays
direct tax to the State (the »General Supply», see page 208). This last
applies to everyone who possesses an income of at least 500 kronor (in
certain communities where living is more expensive, who possesses an
annual income of 600 to 650 kronor)*. Moreover, they are required not
to be in arrears for unpaid rates. The suffrage is also enjoyed by
bodies corporate e. g. companies etc.
The total number of persons entitled to vote is given in 1892 as
704,610 (the figure is somewhat too high) or, if bodies corporate be
excluded, to 688,836, which corresponds to about 25 per cent of the
population over the age of twenty-one years. Amongst men the
proportion amounted to about 50 per cent; among women the proportion
was about 3 per cent (about 44,000 altogether), which figure will have
• A. krona (plur. kronor) = 110 shilling = 0 268 dollar.
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