priority. The contract of employment turned out to be considerably difficult to analyse legally and to regulate by legislation. The gap grew wider and wider between the political demands on the one hand and the legal system’s supply on the other.The need for regulating the terms of the contract and establishing peace on the labour market could not be satisfied by the tiny selection of rules in the statutes on Hired Servants of 1833 and Freedom of Trade of 1864, nor by case law or legal writing. Around1900 Sweden, like many otherWestern countries urgently demanded new legal instruments not only for standardising the content of the individual contracts of employment, but also for promoting peace on the labour market. The domestic system’s asssortment of legal means, however, was extremely scanty.Apart from special acts for certain professions, for example seamen, the existing legislation concerning Swedish working life consisted of the Statute on Hired Servants of 1833(Sw.Legohjonsstadgan) and the Statute on Freedom ofTrade of 1864 (Näringsfrihetsförordningen).The statutes presupposed certain formalities, and if the parties did not observe the formal requirements, neither of the laws could formally be applied. During the second half of the 19th century an increasing number of labour agreements, particularly within the expanding industrial sector were concluded without the parties fulfilling these formal terms. Consequently a considerably large part of the employment relationships lived their life outside legislative regulation. Furthermore, even if the existing statutes could have been formally applied, the workers as well as the employers - although from quite different angles - considered them as badly suited to the demands of a modern labour relationship. The statute of 1833 was based on an ambition to promote longlasting, personal, and diffuse relationships focusing on the master’s far-reaching duty of care and protection and the servant’s openp a r t i v, c h a p t e r 5 132 5. 3 a scanty as sortment of legal source s
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