Page:The Constitution of Sweden (2016).pdf/13

THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW IN SWEDEN Instrument of Government. There was an important addition, however. The Parliament of the Estates was to meet every three years. The Riksdag was now for the first time a regular body of the State and was no longer convened only when the King had need of it.

It seemed natural that the Instrument of Government should be something different from and more significant than a statute of regency, and the idea had many advocates. It should apply in other circumstances, too. This conflicted with the plans of Carl XI, and so one of the first steps he took when he initiated the Carolingian autocracy in 1680 was to have Parliament declare that the King was not bound by any Instrument of Government, but could alter it arbitrarily.

The death of Carl XII in 1718 saw the end of both Sweden’s status as a Great Power and the autocratic monarchy. The pendulum now swung back in the other direction. A new form of government took shape, known appropriately enough as Age of Freedom Government, and it captured the imagination of great philosophers of the age like Voltaire, Rousseau and Mably. It was based on the new and more comprehensive Instrument of Government. This was replaced in 1720 by a new Instrument of Government on the abdication of Queen Ulrica Eleonora in favour of her husband Fredrick I. It was accompanied by new Royal Accession Charters.

The Age of Freedom had a parliamentary form of government. A two-party system evolved, with parties known as the Hats and the Caps. In his Accession Charter, the King pledged himself to agree in all circumstances with the Estates, ‘as being the possessors of power’. The Instrument of Government stipulated that he should govern the country ‘with the advice of the Council, not without it, much less against it’. He had two votes in the Council, plus a casting vote. If he found himself in a minority, he was to accept the majority decision ‘as being in all probability the safest and best’. Nominations for membership of the Council were prepared by a committee of Parliament. Initially, the King was allowed to choose between three names, but this freedom of choice later lapsed. A method was devised whereby Parliament could dismiss a member of Council, and this was brought into use when the parliamentary majority changed following an election.

A new Riksdag Act was introduced in 1723, which carefully regulated forms and procedures. The working procedures currently used in the Riksdag, particularly in the committees, have their roots in the Age of Freedom.

The Age of Freedom was rich in constitutional innovations also in other respects. Sweden’s first Freedom of the Press Act was introduced in 1766. This Act banned censorship (except in the case of theological writings) and established the principle of public access to official documents. At the same time, a clear line was drawn for the first time between fundamental law and other law. Amendments to the Constitution would require the approval of two consecutive Parliaments. The Freedom of the Press Act became a new fundamental law together with the Instrument of Government and the Riksdag Act.

With Gustaf III’s accession to the throne the clock was turned back. After the King’s first coup d’état in 1772 a new Instrument of 12