ry shall consist of twelve
men, that any person who is eligible for election to the Folkething is
eligible for selection as a juryman, and that jury service is
obligatory. On the ground that it fell short of fulfilling the
essential pledges of the constitution, the Radical and Socialist
members of the Rigsdag vigorously opposed the measure.[801]

[Footnote 801: The bill was carried in the
Folkething by a vote of 57 to 42; in the Landsthing
by a vote of 38 to 5.]

*627. Local Government.*--For administrative purposes the kingdom is
divided into 18 Amter, or counties. In each is an Amtmand, or
governor, who is appointed by the crown, and an Amtsrad, or council,
composed of members elected indirectly within the county. The counties
are divided into hundreds, which exist principally for judicial
purposes, and the hundreds are divided into some 1,100 parishes. In
each town is a burgomaster, who is appointed by the crown, and who
governs with or without the assistance of aldermen. Copenhagen,
however, has an administrative system peculiar to itself. Its
burgomaster, elected by the town council, is merely confirmed by the
crown.

CHAPTER XXXI (p. 570)

THE SWEDISH-NORWEGIAN UNION AND THE GOVERNMENT OF NORWAY

I. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT TO 1814

*628. Sweden in Earlier Modern Times.*--During the centuries which
intervened between the establishment of national independence under
the leadership of Gustavus Vasa in 1523 and the end of the Napoleonic
era, the political system of the kingdom of Sweden oscillated in a
remarkable manner between absolutism and liberalism. The establishment
of a national parliamentary assembly antedated the period of union
with Denmark (1397-1523); for it was in 1359 that King Magnus,
embarrassed by the unmanageableness of the nobility and obliged to
fall back upon the support of the middle classes, summoned
representatives of the towns to appear before the king along with the
nobles and clergy, and thus constituted the first Swedish Riksdag. By
an ordinance of Gustavus Adolphus in 1617, what had been a turbulent
and ill-organized body was transformed into a well-ordered national
assembly of four estates--the nobles, the clergy, the burghers, and
the peasants--each of which met and deliberated regularly apart from
the others. There was likewise a Rigsrad, or senate, which comprised