Summary 1. Introduction The main purpose of this thesis is to determine the extent to which the penal law restricted the freedomof political expression in Sweden between the late 1880s and the time when democracy was basically secured as a result of the constitutional reforms of 1918 to 1921. The work is structured around a number of legislative provisions in both the Criminal Law Act of 1864 (Strafflagen) (CLA) and the Freedom of the Press Act of 1812 (Tryckfrihetsförordningen) (FPA). The content of the legal system has been reconstructed by an analysis of legislative texts and the judgments of the Swedish Supreme Court (Högsta domstolen). Judgments which for formal reasons were not determined on the merits by the Supreme Court have also been examined in certain cases. The reason for this is that, in order to permit observations from a historical perspective, I wished to illustrate howthe lawwas administered on the basis of the most complete information obtainable. By freedom of political expression, I mean the freedomto advance points of viewon the constitutional lawsystemand those who represent it. As penal law restrictions on the freedom of political expression, I have included penal provisions protecting the previously mentioned kinds of object fromattack in accordance with the lawconcerning freedom of expression. The kinds of offence which I consider may have such a function comprise spreading socially harmful rumour, offences of sedition, disorderly conduct, offending morality and decency, defamation of foreign powers, the King, the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) or public officials and also certain penal provisions limiting the freedom of expression of trade union organizations. Violations of religion, such as heresy, are not dealt with in this work as the primary purpose of such offences is to maintain the population’s fear of God and not to protect the political system. The notion of the rule of law and the separation of political and judicial powers were established constitutionally in Sweden by the Instrument of Government of 1809. However, there was no declaration of rights and freedoms of the kind existing today in the second chapter of the Instrument of Government during the period when democracy was first established. In most countries, both freedom of speech and freedom of the press were restricted by regulations in the general penal laws. In Sweden, freedom of the press was governed by the FPA of 1812 which was a law with constitutional status. The
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