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2 Edinburgh Student L. Rev. 49 (2013-2015)
Written or Unwritten - A Comparison between the British Constitution and the Swedish Constitution

handle is hein.journals/edinslr2 and id is 269 raw text is: Written or unwritten? A comparison between the British constitution and the Swedish constitution Rachael Lusk* A. INTRODUCTION To introduce the subj ect simply, a constitution is the body of rules and practices that determine the composition and functions of the organs of central and local government in a state and regulate the relationship between the individual and the state.1 Sweden has a written constitution made up of four fundamental laws: The Instrument of Government (1974:152), The Freedom of the Press Act (1949:105), The Fundamental Law on the Freedom of Expression (1991:1469), and the Act of Succession (1810:0926). In contrast, the United Kingdom has a constitution which is unwritten: there is no single constitutional document, but rather a mix of statutes, constitutional conventions, and court precedents. The purpose of this work is to examine the characteristics of written and unwritten constitutions through the comparison of two European states: Sweden and the United Kingdom. The article addresses the following question: Does a written constitution have any advantages over an unwritten one? This article argues that the UK has something to learn from Sweden, particularly with regard to combining strong parliamentary government with an improved, but nonetheless flexible system for protection of constitutional rights. In order to delimit the scope of enquiry, a study of the Swedish constitution is confined to only one of the four fundamental laws: the Instrument of Government. A study of the British Constitution does not consider the impact of devolution. This work begins with a background section which provides a brief overview of the importance of constitutions. The treatise comprises of two parts. The first part examines the Swedish constitution. It begins with a brief historical outline focusing on the birth of modern constitutional practise in the year 1809 and proceeding with a discussion of the developments in the 1974 Instrument of Government. The second part attempts to elucidate the complex and fragmented UK constitution and the history of its evolution. The final part consists of an analysis evaluating the propositions set out in the treatise. The advantages of the Swedish * Rachael Lusk is an LL.B. student at the University of Edinburgh. This article is based on research carried out whilst visiting Lund University, Sweden, as an Erasmus exchange student. 1 EA Martin and J Law (eds), Oxford Dictionary ofLaw, 6th edn (2006).

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