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The Five Hundredth Anniversary of the Swedish Riksdag

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Eric Cyril Bellquist
Eric Cyril Bellquist
Affiliation:
Los Angeles Junior College
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Extract

This year, Sweden is celebrating the five hundreth anniversary of the Riksdag, or national parliament. Appropriate ceremonies were observed in January at the opening of the annual session in Stockholm, and near the end of May the entire Riksdag and the royal family journeyed to the little town of Arboga, in central Sweden, where the first meeting of the parliament was held in 1435. There an impressive celebration was held, culminating in the unveiling of a statue to Engelbrekt, the first, and one of the greatest, in a long line of remarkable leaders in the cause of the common people of Sweden. It was Engelbrekt who led the revolt against the union with Denmark-Norway in 1434, and who, on January 13, 1435, convened at Arboga an assembly representative not only of the nobles and the clergy but also of the commons—the citizens of the towns and the farmers of the countryside.

Type
Foreign Governments and Politics
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 29 , Issue 5 , October 1935 , pp. 857 - 865
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1935

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References

1 It was imported from Germany at the middle of the sixteenth century, together with much of the Swedish governmental terminology during the later days of Gustavus Vasa.

2 The system of four estates, for example, continued until the introduction of bicameralism in 1865–66.

3 Some scholars have held that the origin of the Riksdag is to be traced to the assemblies of freemen of the Things to choose the kings during the Viking period. These meetings undoubtedly had a large indirect influence, as did the frequent convocations of nobles and bishops (herredag—somewhat similar to the English witenagemot; cf. the German Herrentag.); but the latest research supports the explanation here given. See Sven Tunberg, , Sveriges Riksdag, I (1931), 31Google Scholarpassim, 216–217. The present anniversary officially corroborates this.

4 Charles Borgeaud, the Swiss authority on constitutions, admits that “it is earlier than the English and American documents, but it cannot be ascribed the same importance.” This point, as well as the relationship of the crown, council, and Riksdag in general, is discussed in detail in the writer's doctoral dissertation, The Development of Parliamentary Government in Sweden (University of California, 1932)Google Scholar.

5 See his Frihetstidens författning (1915). A good discussion of political development during this period is found in Svanström, and Palmstierna, , A Short History of Sweden (Oxford University Press, 1934), 189–253.Google Scholar

6 Citing V åra grundlagars försvar i brev till Rousseau (1771).

7 Essai sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations (1754), Œuvres de Voltaire (Beuchot edition), XVIII, 397Google Scholar.

8 De l'étude de l'histoire, Volume XII of Collection complète des Œuvres de l'Abbè de Mably, Pt. 2, Chap. 6. This chapter (241–273) deals with “Du gouvernement de Suède.”

9 De la Législalion, ou Principes des Lois (1776), IX of Collection complète des Œuvres, 283. Mably's understanding of the Swedish constitution of the time is considerably deeper than tha t of his biographer, Whitfield, E. A.. See his Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (London, 1930)Google Scholar, with introduction by Laski.

10 Ibid., 5.

11 Ibid., 237–238.

12 Hjärne, H., Hist. Tidskr. (1884) 189–272Google Scholar; Ur det förflutna, 144.

13 Lagerroth, F., Frihetstidens förfaltning, 735Google Scholar, citing Wallenberg, , Min son pd galejan, 91 ff.Google Scholar

14 Gränström, P. O., Adresser och adressdebatter i den svenska parlamentarism, 21Google Scholar.

15 Collected Works (1871), XXX, 83–84Google Scholar.

16 Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, a scholarly periodical issued five times a year.

17 The only comparable work familiar to the writer is the projected English History of Parliament, the plans for which are now well under way. This monumental series is to comprise some 34–40 volumes. See the Interim Report of the Committee on House of Commons Personnel and Politics (London, 1932)Google Scholar, and The Sunday Times, July 29, 1934.

18 The writer is now preparing an extended study on Constitutionalism and Parliamentarism in Sweden, which, it is hoped, will bring a better picture of Swedish government and politics to the attention of students of comparative government.

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