GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF SWEDEN. 163 



old. During the session, which legally lasts four months, they receive a grant of 

 £67 (1,200 crowns), besides travelling expenses. The Presidents and Yice-Presidents 

 of both Houses are chosen by the King from the respective bodies. All matters 

 proposed for discussion are previously prepared by committees named in equal 

 numbers by each of the Chambers. 



The 2,354: Swedish rural communes as well as the 95 boroughs have the 

 management of their local affairs. Each possesses a Municipal Council variously 

 designated according to the rank of the commune, and chooses its own president, 

 except in Stockholm, where the governor (Orer Siat-IIallare) is ex officio president 

 of the communal assembly. The four cities of Stockholm, Goteborg, Malmci, 

 and Norrkoping, with populations exceeding 25,000, are detached from the 

 jurisdiction of the Councils General, and administered by their Municipal Councils. 

 The present Swedish code has been less affected by Roman right than most 

 others in Europe, being mainly traceable to the common law and pagan usages 

 modified by the influence of Christianity. These laws, whose oldest texts date 

 from the beginning of the thirteenth century, are supposed to have been written 

 in Punic characters on balkar, or detached wooden tablets, whence the term balk 

 is still applied to the various sections of the civil code. Several were composed in 

 verse under the form of couplets, with a view to their more easy retention in the 

 memory. To the traditional laws of the rural districts were added the civic 

 codes, more or less inspired by those of Wisby and other Hanseatic towns. In 

 1442 laws and customs alike, the old landskapslagar, were revised and fused into 

 one general code under the name of lamhlag. This code was again modified in 

 1734, and since then it has been several times retouched. The military and 

 ecclesiastics are governed by special laws. 



The press enjoys a large share of liberty in Sweden, where, however, questions 

 dangerous to established religious, political, or socitd interests are seldom broached. 

 In cases of actions for libel against the press, juries of nine are appointed, three by 

 the defendant, three by the plaintifi", and three by the court, six votes being required 

 for a verdict of guilty. 



The tribunals of first instance are composed, in the towns, of the burgomaster 

 and his assessors; in the 108 rural districts, of a district judge, assisted by twelve 

 proprietary peasants. The judge alone decides, but when all the jury diifer from 

 him their opinion prevails. Three royal courts — those of Stockholm for North 

 Sweden, Jonkoping for Gotaland, and Christianstad for Scania and Blekinge — -hear 

 cases of appeal, revise sentences of death pronounced by the judges of first instance, 

 and deal with all errors committed by the judges and functionaries in the exercise 

 of their duties. A High Court sitting in Stockholm is composed of sixteen judges, 

 divided into two tribunals, and in cases involving the military two superior ofiicers 

 are added. Moreover, the King possesses two votes in this court, whenever lie sees 

 fit to take part in the proceedings. On very rare occasions a Court of the Realm 

 is constituted to hear cases against members of the Council of State or of the High 

 Court. 



