estly needs and to prescribe specifically the objects
for which the separate items of appropriation may be employed; also to
vote two separate amounts of adequate size to be used by the king in
emergency only, in the one instance in the event of war, in the other,
when "absolutely necessary for the defense of the country, or for
other important and urgent purposes."

[Footnote 833: Art. 57. Ibid., 234.]

Finally, the Riksdag is authorized and required to exercise a
supervisory vigilance in relation to the several branches of the
governmental system. One of the functions of the Constitutional
Committee is that of inspecting the records of the Council of State to
determine whether there has been any violation of the constitution or
of the general laws; and in the event of positive findings the
Committee may institute proceedings before the Riksratt, or Court of
Impeachment. At every regular session the Riksdag is required to
appoint a solicitor-general, ranking equally with the attorney-general
of the crown, with authority to attend the sessions of any of the
courts of the kingdom, to examine all judicial records, to present to
the Riksdag a full report upon the administration of justice
throughout the nation, and, if necessary, to bring charges of
impeachment against judicial officers. Every third year the Riksdag
appoints a special commission to determine whether all of the members
of the Supreme Court "deserve to be retained in their important
offices." Every third year, too, a commission of six is constituted
which, under the presidency of the solicitor-general, overhauls the
arrangements respecting the liberty of the press.[834]

[Footnote 834: Arts. 96-100. Dodd, Modern
Constitutions, II., 244-245.]

*663. Political Parties: Military and Tariff Questions.*--In Sweden, as
in European countries generally, the party alignment which lies at the
root of contemporary politics is that of Conservatives and Liberals.
Much of the time, however, within the past half-century party
demarcations have been vague and shifting, being determined largely in
successive periods by the rise and disappearance of various
preponderating public issues. The first great question upon which
party affiliations were shaped after the accession of Oscar II. in
1872 was that of national defense. The army and navy were recognized
at that time to be hopelessly antiquated, and the successive