GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OP NORWAY. 159 



Council, and agricultural unions. This system, known abroad as the Goteborg 

 system, from the place where it was first introduced, has the signal advantage that 

 the thirst of gain does not transform the spirit dealer into an encourager of vice 

 and a tempter ever on the watch for his victims. The retail taverns of the 

 Goteborg societies are not like the gin-palaces which attract such crowds in 

 England. 



Sweden is one of the European states in which the number of births from 

 unlegalised unions stands highest, though this need not be regarded as an index of 

 exceptional depravity. There are, so to say, no foundlings in Sweden, where all 

 mothers either nurse their children or cause them to be brought up. Besides, 

 about one-tenth of those reckoned as illegitimate are born of couples registered as 

 betrothed, and after the marriage of their parents they enjoy all the privileges of 

 legitimacy. The high rate of illegitimate births in Stockholm is largely due to 

 the temporary immigration of women from all parts of the country, attracted by 

 the lying-in hospitals of the capital, where they are admitted without the formality 

 of giving their names. Hitherto the non-Lutherans also, other than Catholics, 

 the Jews, and a Baptist parish have been excluded from the marriage laws, in 

 consequence of which their issue is regarded as illegitimate. 



Government and Administration of Norway. 



The independent kingdom of Norway, united to Sweden in the person of the 

 sovereign, is a constitutional state, the nation being represented, as in most 

 European countries, by deliberative bodies. The legislative functions rest with the 

 Storthing, an assembly of 111 members, divided into two sections — the Odehthing, 

 answering to a popular Chamber, and comprising two-thirds of the representative 

 body, and the Lagthing, or Senate, elected by the Storthing. All bills must 

 be adopted by both sections, and in case of disagreement the two form one 

 deliberative body, in which a majority of two-thirds is needed for the enactment 

 of any measure. The action of laws passed by the assembly may be suspended by 

 a royal veto, renewable three times for terms of three years after each fresh vote. 

 Ultimately the will of the assembly prevails. The projects initiated by the King 

 take their turn like all others, and the Storthing may pass to the order of the day 

 without discussing them. 



The members of the Storthing are elected for three years — two-thirds by the 

 rural districts, one-third by the boroughs. All citizens twenty-five years old are 

 eligible, also present or former functionaries, owners of registered real property, 

 traders paying licenses in towns, artisans, ship captains, and in the country five- 

 years' leaseholders. The members of the Government take no part in the 

 deliberations of the Storthing, which meets annually, but cannot sit for more than 

 two months without the consent of the King, though he does not possess the right 

 of dissolution. The fundamental law of Norway is parti}- modelled on the French 

 constitution of 1791. 



The King, who resides in Stockholm, is bound by the Norwegian constitution 



