Introduction

• Author: Jenny Julen Votinius
• Pages: 5-6

5

1Introduction

1.1Basic structure of the national legal system

The authority to enact laws is vested in the Swedish Parliament (the Riksdag). The

Government, however, has the power to issue decrees concerning less important matters.

To some extent this power stems directly from the Instrument of Government (1974:152),

one of Sweden’s four constitutional laws but the Government can also be granted authority

to issue decrees by means of acts of law passed by Parliament. Legal instruments relating

to the personal status of private subjects or the personal and economic relations between

private subjects –that is, matters of civil law – fall under the exclusive competence of

Parliament and must thus be regulated by law.1Employment legislation falls under this

category. Neither local nor regional authorities have any legislative powers in this field.

As regards the law-making process, in Sweden the groundwork in the preparation of bills

is laid by commissions of inquiry, legal experts in the ministries, and Parliamentary

standing committees. Legislative initiative lies predominantly with the Government. Its

right to make legislative proposals to Parliament is guaranteed by the Constitution.2

Another alternative is that Parliament, on the basis of bills introduced by individual

members, requests that an inquiry should take place concerning legislation on a certain

issue. Swedish legislative commissions, likely to prepare any bill of importance, are

responsible for carrying out detailed inquiries published in a special series known as

Swedish Government Reports (Statens offentliga utredningar, SOU). To a certain extent,

inquiries into matters of legislation are carried out at the ministry principally concerned,

with the assistance of the ministry's own officials.

The most important part of Parliament's legislative work is performed within standing

committees. The committees deal with the Government's bills and with Parliament

Members' bills containing various amendments. This results in a committee report. The

bill and the report are subsequently dealt with at a plenary session of Parliament which,

after a debate, votes on the bill.

The Swedish law-making process thus generates a voluminous body of printed material

which is important in applying the legislation. Given the care taken in these materials to

formulate the reasons and intent of the law, it becomes natural for the courts, the

authorities and individual lawyers to rely on them as important sources of interpretation.

Primary responsibility for the enforcement of legal rules devolves upon the courts and the

various administrative authorities. As in other European countries, the court system

occupies a special position. The difference between adjudicatory and administrative

authorities is less pronounced in Sweden than in most European countries, although there

is a clear borderline between the courts and the administrative agencies.

As for the general courts,Sweden has a three-tier hierarchy: the district courts (tingsrätt),

the courts of appeal (hovrätt), and the Supreme Court (Högsta domstolen). As a general

principle it may be said that the general courts enforce civil law and criminal law

legislation. The Labour Court is a special court with the task of resolving labour disputes.

The national administration is conducted by the Government and the various ministries

and is organised in a well-developed network of administrative authorities. The central

administrative agencies have a relatively independent position regulated in general by

instructions handed down by the Government. In the area of discrimination there is now

a ‘single’ Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen, hereinafter DO) covering

not only gender discrimination but also other protected grounds such as ethnicity, religion,

sexual orientation, disability and age.

1Article 2 of Chapter 8, Instrument of Government.

2Article 3 in Chapter 4 of the Instrument of Government.