187 kollegium, and had sometimes been referred to as the gcncralstatskontorct. The statskontoret was to continue under the direction of the treasurer of the realm (from 1684 the president of the kammarkollegium), although it was not otherwise subordinate to the kammarkollegium. In its instruktion from 1680, the area of responsibility of the statskontoret was clearly distinguished from that of the kammarkollegium. Article 14 of the instruktion stated very clearly that allocating the state revenues was to be the task of “the statskontoret alone," without any interference from the kammarkollegium.'^^ In a move that underlined the fact that it was to be an instrument of fiscal policy directly under the control of the absolute monarch, the adjective “royal" was added to the name of the statskontoret. This immediate proximity to the king indicates the importance attached to the formulation of the budget. The economic interests of the civil servants and military officers were guaranteed the highest priority by the strong influence of the king on the work of the statskontoret, and the fact that this college was in charge of disbursing all the revenues of the realm made it an institution of the greatest political significance. In addition, effective control of the whole administration could be exercised through the statskontoret, since it not only formulated the salary budgets, but was also in charge of the payment of those salaries. A further sign of its special position in relation to the other colleges was that its members were allowed to present their business to the king directly, rather than through the kanslikollegium. Once its task became regularized after its first years in operation, the statskontoret assumed the character of a special administrative organ to an even greater extent. While it continued to be included in the budget of the kammarkollegium, the two colleges were united only through their common president, and some have characterized this relationship as a “personal union” in order to stress its purely personal nature.-^^ The double presidency remained until 1720, when the new Form of Government stipulated that the statskontoret should have its own president.-^^ Furthermore, the statskontoret was listed under a separate budgetary title in the state budget from this time onward. In light of all this, then, it is possible to summarize by saying that there was no decisive difference between the organizational status of the shtats-kontor-kollegiia and the statskontoret within their respective collegial systems. 212 215 Instruktioner II, 128. Bääth &: Munthe, 25; Edén (1941), 139—140. Bååth & Munthe, 21. SRF, 105. Concerning the position of the statskontoret in terms of administrative law, see James Cavallie, Från fred till krig. De finansiella problem kring krigsutbrottet år 1700 (Uppsala, 1975), 32.
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