Charles XI of Sweden 2

October 30th, 2009

Sweden had become an absolute monarchy, but enacted the right of the Swedish people, in parliament, to be consulted on all important matters. The Riksdag, completely overshadowed by the throne, did little more than register the royal decrees during the reign of Charles XI of Sweden; but, it continued to exist as an essential part of the government. Moreover, this transfer of authority was a voluntary act. The people, knowing the king to be their ally, trusted and cooperated with him. The Riksdag of 1682 declared that the king was empowered to bestow fiefs, and take them back again, making the king the disposer of his subjects’ temporal property. Presently, this new principle of autocracy was extended to the king’s legislative authority, when on December 9, 1682, all four estates not only confirmed that the king held the legislative powers enjoyed by his predecessors, but even gave him the right of interpreting and amending the common law.

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