Page:The Constitution of Sweden (2016).pdf/14

Rh Government was adopted. It was based on a separation of powers between the monarch and Parliament. The King and Parliament shared legislative power, and the King was empowered to levy new taxes, but only if the country was under attack. The King became independent of the Council. An Act of Union and Security was adopted at the time of Gustaf III’s second coup in 1789. This made the King to all intents and purposes an autocratic ruler. He acquired the right to conduct the affairs of State as he saw fit. One immediate consequence was that the Council ceased to exist. Its role in relation to the administration of justice was transferred to a newly-constituted Supreme Court in which the King had two votes.

Gustaf IV Adolf’s involvement in the Napoleonic Wars led to the loss of Finland and the coup d’état of 1809. The King was deposed and the Gustavian autocracy came to an abrupt end. The 1772 Instrument of Government and the 1789 Act of Union and Security were replaced by a new Instrument of Government. But it may give cause for reflection that the 1772 Instrument of Government and the 1789 Act of Union and Security survived until 1919 as the basis of the Finnish form of government.

Like its 1772 predecessor, the 1809 Instrument of Government was based on the principle of separation of powers. The power of government lay with the King and the role of the Councillors of State was purely advisory. The power of legislation was shared between King and Riksdag as regards fundamental law and civil and criminal law (joint legislation), while the King retained the power of economic and administrative legislation. Power over taxation and the budget was placed in the hands of the Riksdag, together with a detailed power of supervision. One of the Riksdag committees, the Committee on the Constitution, was given the task of scrutinising the Councillors of State in their role as advisers to the King. The Parliamentary Ombudsman, who was elected by the Riksdag, had the task of ensuring that public authorities followed the laws enacted by Parliament. Three more fundamental laws were adopted in conjunction with the Instrument of Government, namely the 1809 Act of Succession, the 1810 Riksdag Act, and the 1810 Freedom of the Press Act. In 1810, a new Act of Succession, which is still in force, was adopted when Marshal of France Jean Baptiste Bernadotte was elected heir to the throne, and two years later a new Freedom of the Press Act was adopted.

The 1809 Instrument of Government re-established the basic principles of the freedom of the press, namely, freedom from censorship and other prior interventions; a requirement that there should be support in law for interventions and examination before a court of law; and the principle of the public nature of official documents. Except in relation to the freedom of the press, however, this Instrument of Government for the most part lacks rules concerning rights and freedoms, although its renowned Article 16, which goes back to the royal Accession Charters of the Middle Ages, did contain a few principles intended to protect the citizens. These were perceived to involve the requirement that citizens should be equal before the law.

The 1809 Instrument of Government survived for well over a century. It was not was superseded by the present Instrument of Government until Rh