Swedish municipal reforms of 1862

The Swedish municipal reforms of 1862 defined new Swedish local governments, called Kommun in Swedish and usually called municipalities in English.

Before the 1862 reform, local governments in Sweden were based on church parishes and were integrated with churches. The 1862 reforms included a constitutional change creating secular local governments.^[1]

The 1862 reforms assigned governmental functions to 2,498 municipalities and 25 county councils.^[2] Most municipalities had a small population.^[3] Later reforms reduced this number sharply to about 290 today. The municipalities had authority to tax and became the providers of most welfare services to individuals, the scope of which is defined by national laws.^[3][4]

Prior to 1862, only landowners had the right to vote in Sweden. In 1862, the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) enacted legislation allowing industrialists the right to vote in local elections, and the following year, "parliament additionally decided that all local taxpayers should have votes in proportion to their tax payments."^[5] The class of voters was perhaps larger than ever before in Sweden. Taxpaying people and companies could vote, but poor people could not. Women could vote in local elections if they were of adult age, unmarried, and had a high enough independent income or property.^[6] More democratic elections were held later starting in 1919,^[3] once the Riksdag enacted universal suffrage for local elections.^[6] (The last limitations on the franchise were abolished in 1989.^[6])

Relations between municipalities and county councils are not hierarchical; they are self-governing with their own elected officials and have different responsibilities.^[4] Citizens have a right to make a case against the municipal government in court.^[7]