cial system,
its own courts, its own army and navy. The legal basis of the
affiliation was the _Riksakt_, or Act of Union, of August, 1815,--an
ultimate agreement between the two states which in Norway was formally
adopted by the Storthing as a part of the Norwegian fundamental (p. 575)
law, but which in Sweden was regarded as a treaty, and hence was never
incorporated by the Rigsdag within the constitution. In each of the
states the functions and status of the crown were regulated by
constitutional provisions; and the character of the royal power was by
no means the same in the two. In Sweden, for example, the king
possessed independent legislative power and his veto was absolute; in
Norway he possessed no such independent prerogative and his veto was
only suspensive. There was a common ministry of war and another of
foreign affairs; beyond this the functions of a common administration
were vested in a complicated system of joint councils of state.
Matters of common concern lying outside the jurisdiction of the crown
were regulated by concurrent resolutions or laws passed by the Riksdag
and the Storthing independently. But in all matters of internal
legislation and administration the two kingdoms were as separate as if
no legal relations had been established between them. There was not
even a common citizenship.

*635. Causes of Friction.*--From the outset the union was menaced by
perennial friction. Differences between the two kingdoms in respect to
language, manners, and economic concerns were pronounced; differences
of social and political ideas were still more considerable;
differences in governmental theories and institutions were seemingly
irreconcilable. In Sweden the tone of the political system, until far
in the nineteenth century, was distinctly autocratic, and that of the
social system aristocratic; in Norway the principle that preponderated
was rather that of democracy. Between the two states there was
disagreement upon even the fundamental question of the nature of the
union. The Swedish contention was that at the Peace of Kiel Norway was
ceded to Sweden by Denmark and that the mere fact that, following the
unsuccessful attempt of the Norwegians to establish their
independence, Sweden had chosen to grant the affiliated kingdom a
separate statehood and local autonomy did not contravene Norway's
essentially subordinate position within the union. The Norwegians, on
the other hand, maintained that, in the