Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - III. Constitution and Administration. Introd. by E. Hildebrand - 3. Local Government. Introd. by G. A. Aldén - Self-Government of the Counties (Läns). By G. A. Aldén - 4. Legal and Judicial Organization - History of Swedish Law. By K. G. Westman
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HISTORY OF SWEDISH LAW.
303
poll tax for the care of the sick, amounting at most to 50 ore (about 61/s d.)
for every adult male not especially exempted, and half that sum for every
woman, and a County Rate (landstingsskatt,), which is assessed at a certain
proportion of the rateable income and which is similar to what is levied in
the communes.
The County Councils have also an important political function to fulfil
in the election of members of the First Chamber of the Riksdag (cf. page
201).
In 1914 the County Councils consisted of 696 Moderates (519 from the country
and 171 from the towns), 347 Liberals (288 from the country and 59 from the
towns), and 192 Social Democrats (148 from the country and 44 from the towns).
4. LEGAL AND JUDICIAL ORGANIZATION.
History of Swedish Law.
From times immemorial the Swedish people have lived their lives under
the protection of laws of their own making. They have never had alien
laws forced upon them, nor have they ever relinquished their own legal
system to adopt an alien one. Thus, although, as is quite natural owing
to the connectedness in general features of the civilizations of Western
Europe, there have been influences from abroad making themselves felt
in the evolution of Swedish law, that law traces its origin nevertheless
back to the days when the realm of Sweden was first taking shape.
Just as the nucleus of the Kingdom of Sweden owed its existence to
the uniting of various "Land" or Shires together, so the laws of those
ancient "Land" or Shires constitute the foundation upon which the
edifice of Swedish law has been built up. The larger "Land" or Shires
were originally inhabited by distinct peoples and possessed laws of their
own, Landskapslagar, Shire Laws.
Of those laws the oldest, e. g. the Law of the Västgöta Men and the Law of
the Östgöta Men, give a rendering of popular or people-made law, written down
as recited by the lawman — himself a functionary elected by the people —
when making known in the "Thing" or assembly what he deemed to be law.
The Uppland Law, on the other hand, which is the most important of the
younger group, is the record of legislative work carried out by king and people
jointly. These monuments, dating from the time when each "Land" or Shire
had a law of its own, though not compiled until after the year 1200, contain
numerous instances of legal maxims handed down from heathen times and
illustrative of Teutonic legal conceptions. They bear evidence of a legal culture
that in its kind is amazingly highly developed, many of the laws, if judged by
the standard of that day, really deserving to be designated masterpieces of
written law. There is indeed visible in these laws, as in so many other early
law sources, a trace of formalism here and there; to a not inappreciable extent,
however, that is modified in their case by the considerable element of popular
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