ABSTRACT
The Swedish Parliament of Four Estates followed from the Constitution of 1809, but, in fact, had older roots, dating as far back as the fifteenth century, and consisted of nobility, clergy, bourgeoisie and peasants. It was replaced by a bicameral system in 1866. After this development, the Constitution of 1809 gradually, and then quite quickly, also became obsolete in other respects. In 1970, that Act was replaced by a new Riksdag Act, which is based on a unicameral system of parliament and does not have constitutional status anymore (though it supersedes ordinary laws in the Swedish hierarchy of laws). The Swedish Parliament was thus bicameral from 1866 to 1970. The new Constitution of 1974, which has remained in place to this day, clearly states that Sweden has a unicameral Parliament – with 349 members elected every fourth year. In this chapter, an attempt is made to explain why and how Sweden went from a four-estate system to bicameralism to (finally) a unicameral system in approximately one hundred years.
