Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - XIV. Reign of Ulrica Eleonora and Frederick I, 1719–1751 - C. Constitutional and Legislative Reforms
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Constitutional Reforms 245
sions of the Riksdag. They interfered in the adminis-
tration of justice, questions of promotions, appoint-
ments, etc. For any one claiming to have been wronged
could lay his complaints before them. How much power
the king had relative to the Estates is shown in Frede-
rick’s declaration that he would "ever concur with the
Estates of the realm."
Between the meetings of the Riksdag, the council-
ors acted for the Estates. They had been nominated
by the Estates and were accountable to them for their
acts. All important matters in the council were de-
cided by vote, each councilor having one vote and the
king two. His Majesty, therefore, had as much power
as two of the seventeen councilmen. In former days
the king did not even have to consult his council. In
reality Sweden was now ruled as a republic, whose
president was styled king.
Hence, the king was now subject to the Council, and
the Council to the all-powerful Estates. By the aboli-
tion of absolutism, it was now held, the old Swed-
ish liberty had been restored, and so the period now
ushered in has been called the Era of Liberty.
Kings had been seen to abuse their power, council-
ors had abused theirs, but that the Estates might also
abuse their power was not suspected.
The New General Code of Laws. For more than a
hundred years the government had been considering
the plan of preparing a new general code of laws. The
law that had been most excellent in the time of Magnus
Ericsson could not remain so when everything else
in the kingdom had changed. It is true that the general
law of the realm had been issued in a new edition after
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