The1809 Instrument of Government (Swedish:1809 års regeringsform), adopted on 6 June 1809 by theRiksdag of the Estates andKingCharles XIII, was theconstitution of theKingdom of Sweden from 1809 to the end of 1974. It came about as a result of theCoup of 1809, in whichKing Gustav IV Adolf was deposed. The promulgation of the constitution marks the point at which Sweden transitioned from theabsolute monarchy of theGustavian era (established by aprevious coup in 1772) into a stable,constitutional monarchy adhering to therule of law and significantcivil liberties.
Initially the Instrument only curtailed the powers of the king, who retained a significant role in politics, but over time the crown's powers were reduced still furtherby convention as Sweden developed into a fulldemocracy.
The 1809 Instrument was finally replaced altogether by theInstrument of Government of 1974, which formally enshrined democracy and the will and equality of the people, exercised through aunicameral parliament.
After the promulgation of theInstrument of Government (1719), Sweden had a half-century ofparliamentary government under theRiksdag of the Estates, a period traditionally known as theAge of Liberty. This came to an end with theRevolution of 1772, aself-coup perpetrated byGustav III, who subsequently ruled as anenlightened despot under the1772 Instrument of Government. Gustav III's son,Gustav IV Adolf, succeeded him but proved a less charismatic ruler, and his political authority was fatally undermined by Swedish defeat in theFinnish War, part of the broaderNapoleonic Wars, which led to the cession ofFinland toRussia under theTreaty of Fredrikshamn.
This military catastrophe provided an opportunity for disaffectedliberals, backed by elements of theSwedish Army, to mount acoup against the unpopular king. Gustav Adolf was arrested, forced to abdicate and then sent into exile, and his uncle Duke Charles was acclaimed asKing Charles XIII. Charles agreed to renounceabsolute monarchy, and to accept the replacement of the absolutistInstrument of Government (1772) by a new constitution. The new constitution was drawn up by a committee led byHans Järta, and was officially adopted by the Riksdag on 6 June,[1] Sweden'snational day.
As Charles XIII was childless, it was vital to find an heir in order to guarantee a smooth succession upon his death. The Riksdag initially elected a Danish prince andStadtholder of Norway,Charles August, but he died soon afterwards. In 1810 they therefore held a second election and chose theFrench Marshal andPrince of PontecorvoJean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who was adopted by Charles XIII and officially recognised asheir apparent. In order to prevent future succession crises, the rights of Bernadotte's descendants to accede to the Swedish throne were codified in an amendment to the Instrument of Government, theAct of Succession (1810).
The Instrument of Government established a separation of powers between the executive branch (theking) and the legislative branch (theRiksdag of the Estates). The King and Riksdag possessed joint power over legislation (article 87, constitutional law in articles 81-86), while the Riksdag had sole power over the budget and state incomes and expenses (articles 57-77) including military burdens (article 73). While the king's power was somewhat reduced compared to theenlightened absolutism of Gustav III, the new document did allow the king to take a more active role in politics than the1720 Instrument of Government which had been in force during theAge of Liberty.
Originally, ministers were politically responsible solely to the king, who appointed and dismissed them. However, they were legally responsible to the Riksdag and a special court (Riksrätten) according to a special statute and to law in general if they committed legal offences (articles 106 and 101-102).
Although the Instrument of Government remained in force to the end of 1974, a large number of important reforms were made in the meantime which transformed the structures of Swedish government.
Under the Instrument, the Riksdag of the Estates initially retained themulticameral form it had had since theMiddle Ages, comprising representatives of the four "estates" of Swedish society, namely thenobility,clergy,burghers andpeasantry. However, in 1866 it was replaced by a newbicameral (two-chamber) legislature, themodern Riksdag, in which members of the "First Chamber" elected indirectly by the county councils and the municipal assemblies in the larger towns and cities, and members of the "Second Chamber" directly elected by male property owners.[2]
A further important change came in 1876 with the creation of the office ofPrime Minister of Sweden, reflecting practice in other parliamentary democracies such as theUnited Kingdom.
As the Riksdag's authority grew, it became increasingly difficult for a government to stay in office solely with the Crown's support. This tension grew especially bad after 1907, when aliberal government was chosen that enjoyed the confidence of the Riksdag but was disliked byKing Gustav V. In 1914 the king made the so-calledCourtyard Speech publicly criticising the government, which resigned in protest, whereupon the king appointed a conservative government of civil servants responsible to him.
The Liberals won a decisive victory in 1917, and although Gustaf nevertheless tried to appoint another conservative ministry, it could not garner enough support in the Riksdag. It was now obvious that the king could no longer pick a government entirely of his choosing, nor could he keep an unpopular ministry in office against the will of the Riksdag.[3] Gustaf yielded and appointed a liberal-social democratic coalition that effectively arrogated most of the crown's political powers to itself.
This "Courtyard Crisis" definitively established that ministers were both politically and legally responsible to the Riksdag rather than the crown, and from then on, while ministers were still formally appointed by the king,convention required him to ensure they had the support of a majority in the Riksdag. Although the 1809 Instrument's statement that "the King alone shall govern the realm" (article 4) remained unchanged, it was understood that he was to exercise his powers through the ministers and act on their advice. As a result, the ministers did most of the actual work of governing, making Sweden a de facto parliamentary monarchy.
On 1 January 1975, the 1809 Instrument was replaced by a newInstrument of Government (1974), which stripped the king of even nominal political power and made Sweden ade factocrowned republic.[4] but in the terms of Constitutional Monarchy as the form of government in Sweden according to the Constitution.