Commentary on The Swedish Freedom of the Press Ordinance (1766)

Jonas Nordin

Division of Book History, University of Lund, SE

Please cite as:

Nordin, Jonas (2023) ‘Commentary on The Swedish Freedom of the Press Ordinance (1766)’, in Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

1. Full title

His Majesty’s Gracious Ordinance Regarding the Freedom of Writing and of the Press; Issued in the Council Chamber, Stockholm, on 2 December 1766.

2. Abstract

The ordinance installed the first legally sanctioned freedom of the press in the world and was preceded by decades of discussions, proposals, and investigations. The issued ordinance was a compromise between various interests; it was not the unlimited freedom of the press that many had hoped for. Prior censorship was abolished except for theological writings, but it was still forbidden to publish seditious libel, defamation, and indecencies. As long as the author was known and took responsibility for the written material, the printer could not be prosecuted, which was a relaxation of previous restrictions. Book import was still regulated. Despite these limitations, the freedom of the press ordinance meant an upswing, particularly for political pamphleteering, and several new printing houses were established.

3. The Background and Genesis of the Ordinance

Between 1719 and 1772, Sweden had a form of government with the council of the realm acting as a collective ruling power under the king’s chairmanship. Alongside this was the Diet (Riksdagen), consisting of the four estates: nobility, clergy, burghers, and peasants. The Diet, which met every three years, became increasingly powerful over time, and eventually took over the entire legislative power. There were also two competing parties in the Diet, the Hats and the Caps, and since the councilors were accountable to the Diet, a form of parliamentarism emerged.[1] Early on it was recognized that a “free republic” of this kind needed freedom of opinion to function.

The first proposal to abolish pre-censorship was presented in the burgher estate by Anders Bachmanson (Nordencrantz) at the Diet in 1727.[2] It was well received in the estate but rejected later in the legislative chain. A new motion was presented in 1739, this time in the noble estate by Henning Adolf Gyllenborg, but again it did not lead to any action.[3] Both proposers were evidently inspired by England, where pre-censorship had been abolished in 1695. Bachmanson had spent eighteen formative months in London in the early 1720s and throughout his life he continued to follow English public discourse, which made a deep impression on him. Gyllenborg was raised by his anglophone uncle Carl Gyllenborg and his English wife, Sara Wright. Gyllenborg senior was well informed on English politics; he had been attached to the Swedish legation in London 1704–1717, the last seven years as its head. When Carl Gyllenborg was appointed Head of the Chancery College (kanslipresident, equivalent of prime minister) just a week after his nephew had presented his proposal on freedom of the press, both of their commitments to the issue were likely to have decreased – freedom of the press was a more attractive tool for the opposition than for those in power.

Not much legislative action on the matter was taken over the following decades, but censorship gradually eased, and more and more debaters spoke for the need for freedom of the press reform.[4] At the 1760–1762 assembly of the Diet, a special committee was appointed to prepare the question. Despite working for 18 months and presenting several proposals, the committee did not finish its work before the Diet session expired.[5]

At the next Diet assembly in 1765–1766, a new freedom of the press committee was appointed, this time as part of a larger constitutional deputation. The committee had 21 meetings over eleven months and examined both Swedish and foreign legislation in the field. No models to copy were found, so all possible positive and negative consequences of a freedom of the press ordinance had to be systematically investigated. The committee’s proposals were continuously anchored in the constitutional or “Grand Deputation”.[6]

The committee’s first decision was that all protocols and documents from governing bodies and public authorities should be open to scrutiny and allowed to be published for the enlightenment of the public. Exceptions were only made for secret negotiations with foreign powers and documents relating to state security. It was mainly the issue of any remaining restrictions that caused disagreement in the committee and required compromises. As a consequence, in the issued ordinance, certain writings could still be prosecuted: if they attacked the constitution and the royal house or jeopardized Sweden’s relations with foreign powers; if they contained defamatory attacks on officials and individuals; or if they contained obscenities (§§ 2–5).[7] Moreover, despite the committee’s proposal to abolish all pre-censorship, it was retained for theological literature and religious writings (§ 1). This was necessary to get the clergy to support the ordinance in the Diet.

The clergy did indeed vote in favour, as did the peasants and burgers. With the support of these three estates the ordinance was accepted, despite the fact that the nobility voted against it. This lack of unanimity did however mean that it could not be granted constitutional status, which was the original ambition. Nonetheless, in order to give the resolution some extra weight, a cryptic phrase was inserted (§ 14) about “the guaranteed continuance of the freedom of writing and of the press described here and provided by an unalterable Constitution”. In order words, it was described as if it were a constitution without actually being one.

4. Effects on the market

The Freedom of the Press Ordinance had an immediate effect on the book industry and the political discourse. In Stockholm, the number of active printers increased from seven to ten within five years, and the number of bookstores in the city increased from two to six during the 1760s. The change was most evident in production. The number of political pamphlets on various topics multiplied rapidly – roughly 75% of this type of material from the eighteenth century was published between 1766 and 1772. This means that, on average, about two political pamphlets were published per week over a five-year period.[8] Transparency in political decision-making increased as a result of the new principle of public access to official documents, and the tone of the debate radicalized quickly. Many pamphleteers argued against noble privileges and many propositions for the abolition of inherited social advantages were presented. The previous conflicts between the two parties in the Diet increasingly turned into a general struggle between nobility and commoners.[9]

5. Formal effects on the publishing industry

The Freedom of the Press Ordinance did not change much in the laws that regulated the relationship between book printers and authors in economic terms (cf. § 4). Normally, either the authors published at their own expense and supplied the capital, or the printer took the risk and kept most of the profit.

The book printers’ privileges were structured in the Society of Book Printers’ (Boktryckerisocieteten) regulations from 1752 and rarely extended over twenty years. The regulations contained an implied but indistinctly formulated understanding that authors and translators were the owners of their own works if they had not waived this right. This did not change with the Freedom of the Press Ordinance, but there were some new routines in the handling. Previously, the printers’ privileges were handled by the book censor, the censor librorum, but when this office was abolished, the same tasks were taken over by his employer, the Chancery College (Kanslikollegium).[10] The Freedom of the Press Ordinance repeated the printers’ obligation to deliver one copy each of all new printed material to the Chancery College, the national archives, the royal library, and the three university libraries (§ 4).

6. The end of freedom of the press

The immediate period of press freedom was short-lived. In August 1772, King Gustav III staged a coup, revoked the constitution of the Age of Liberty, and reinstated strong royal power. The new constitution adopted by royal decree repealed all constitutional statutes adopted after 1680. Simultaneously, the use of the previous party designations was prohibited, a veiled signal that all political discussions would now be supervised by the king. These measures ushered in a deceptive calm in politics.

A year and a half after the coup, the Svea Court of Appeal turned to the king with the question whether the 1766 Freedom of the Press Ordinance should be considered repealed along with all previous constitutional statutes – after all, Section 14 of the Ordinance did not explicitly state that it was a constitutional statute but that it should be regarded as such. The king presented his decision in propagandist terms. There was no doubt that the Freedom of the Press Ordinance had been revoked, he emphasized, but the question was whether it had been harmful or useful. The king explained that it was not harmful as a principle, but only through its abuse. The previous form of government had corrupted the effects of press freedom, but under the new regime, based on liberty and security, this danger was eliminated. Therefore, Gustav III decided to issue an “improved” Freedom of the Press Ordinance on 26 April 1774.[11]

Through some minor edits, the king managed to completely change the meaning of the law. Previously, everything was allowed to be printed unless expressly prohibited. Now, everything that was printed became potentially prosecutable unless it was expressly permitted. In subsequent years, further restrictions followed until freedom of the press remained only in name.

7. Legacy

Despite the restrictions, the 1766 Freedom of the Press Ordinance continued to be a beacon for government critics. Following Gustav III’s assassination in 1792, a new and short-lived Freedom of the Press Ordinance was introduced. When his son and successor, Gustav IV Adolf, was deposed in 1809, press freedom was reintroduced as a fundamental right in the Instrument of Government. This provision was supplemented with a new and detailed Freedom of the Press Ordinance in 1810, which was further revised in 1812. The latter was in effect until 1949 when the current Freedom of the Press Ordinance was adopted. All these documents, in various ways, looked back to the 1766 Freedom of the Press Ordinance as a benchmark.[12]

In May 2023 the Freedom of the Press Ordinance of 1766 was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.[13] The documentary heritage encompasses the records from the process of the Freedom of the Press Ordinance’s establishment, which are stored in the Swedish National Archives, and the large quantity of pamphlets on political subjects that were an immediate consequence of the ordinance and are kept at the National Library in Stockholm.