Tul Swedish House oe Nobileev as a Legae History Arena 329 4. An age of greatness After the death of Charles XII in 1718 there started a period of about 50 years which we call the Period of Freedom. In 1719 and 1720 there were newconstitutions. There was still a king but he had to share the power with the Council and Parliament. The absolutismwas withcirawn. Nowappeared the first political parties: “Hats” and “Caps” (hattar, mössor). Most of the power, even the executive, was laid on Parliament which had a session every three years. Between the sessions the parliamentary power lay on the Parliament’s Secret Commission (sekreta utskottet). It consisted of 50 noblemen, 25 priests and 25 townsmen - no peasants. The commission had its sessions in this room(lantmarskalkssalen). So for about half a century in reality the realmwas governed from this room. The climax of our story occurred at the sessions of 1731 and 1734. Parliament had to make a decision on the King’s proposal to a new code. The speaker of the Nobility, Arvid Horn, invited the other Estates to come to this house for deliberations and decision.’- Horn was at this time also first chancellor (kanslipresident) and president of the Secret Commission and in reality the sovereign of the realm. Duringtwo long sessions the assembled four Estates (plenum plenorum) examined the whole code, section after section. Their greatest problem was the shootingrights. Earlier the right of hunting was reserved for the King and the Nobility. The three commoner estates demanded shooting rights. To us it seems to be a small problem, but in fact the shooting right was the sign that marked that you were the c)wner of the land. So shooting rights were important. Also the clergy claimed the right of shooting “because the laws of God and nature teach us, that the right to the animals belongs to all people”. An officer, one of king Charles XII’s veterans, replied: “Our dear Lord Jesus Christ sent his disciples not to run with the rifle in the wood but to fish.” These words had the effect of a torpedo. The whole clergy left the session and it seemed to be a total chaos. After many deliberations the Estates conciliated that the code should have no provisions at all about shooting rights. As far as I know this code is the first in the western civilization where Parliament was active in issuing a new code.'"’ The Danish code is older but it was enacted by an autocratic king (Danske Lov 1683; Norske Lov 1687). Formally the three Nordic codes are all still in force. with delay 13 K. G. Westman, SvJT 1934, p. 535. Svenskci män och kvinnor. Vol. 3, p. 538. For this st.itcment 1 owe th.tnks to professor R.toul C. v.in Caenegemof University of Gent.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=