part iii • contemporary legal history • henrik wenander previously as the King in Council, denoted by the written phrase Kungl Maj:t (KungligMajestät, lit. Royal Majesty), now as the ceremonial figure of statschef (head of state) – and the arrangements in the Swedish constitutional monarchy that illustrate the role of legal history in understanding contemporary public law in Sweden. The basis for contemporary Swedish constitutional law is found in the central fundamental law, the 1974 Regeringsform (Instrument of Government), which replaced its 1809 predecessor. The Instrument of Government regulates the basic constitutional structure of Sweden, with provisions on the institutional structure of the state, elections, the formation of a government, legislation, the protection of individual rights, and international relations, and thus forms the core of the Swedish constitution. The central fundamental law of 1974 was very much a product of its time.This was the time when post-war Sweden saw the rapid expansion of the welfare state, paired with a general modernization of society. This included the large-scale urban renewal of historic city centres, demolishing rather than renovating old buildings and replacing them with large modernist concrete blocks. The Swedish journalist and author JanOlof ‘Jolo’ Olsson said an American tourist, seeing the construction sites in central Stockholm in the sixties, had asked if it was the Russians or the Germans who had laid waste to the city. We Swedes did it all by ourselves was the proud answer, Jolo drily noted.4 The same modernist ideology applied in the process leading to the 1974 Instrument of Government.5 The political choice to adopt a new Instrument of Government instead of amending the old and largely obsolete one saw the entire constitutional structure changed. Still, it retains clear traces of the structures of the 1809 fundamental law and subsequent historical developments. The basic constitutional principle of 1974 Instrument of Government is popular sovereignty, in the sense that public power in Sweden proceeds from the people. It is clear that the Riksdag (Parliament) is the foremost representative of the people. The fundamental law describes Sweden as 4 Jan-Olof Olsson, Stockholmsluft (Stockholm: Albert Bonnier, 1974), 98. 5 Kjell Å Modéer, Det förpliktande minnet: Juridiska fakulteten i Lund 1666–2016(Stockholm: Santérus, 2017), 178–9. 168
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