of such strict rules of evidence as prevail in the legal practice of the United States.  All judicial procedure in Sweden is based upon the assumption that the court is sufficiently intelligent and impartial to determine the reliability of witnesses and to judge of the application of facts laid before it.  All judges and judicial magistrates are appointed for life on good behavior, but they can be impeached by processes similar to those authorized by the Constitution of the United States.[g]

CHAPTER VIII

THE ARMY AND NAVY

Everybody in Norway, that is every man, has to serve five years in the army, so that every citizen is a soldier—­the first year after the twenty-third birthday seventy days, and thirty days or so each year thereafter for four years more.  The organization has a nominal strength of 80,000 men of three divisions known as the landstrom, or reserves (25,000); the landvern, or militia (55,000), and the opbud, or regulars, who numbered about 5,000, garrison the different fortresses along the coast.  Every able-bodied Norwegian, except pilots and clergymen, is obliged to serve in any position to which he is assigned by the king, who is commander-in-chief.  The sailors and fishermen are enrolled in the navy and must serve aboard a man-of-war at least twelve months.  The land forces require five months’ service for infantry, seven months for cavalry and artillery, and six months for engineers, which is distributed over a period of five years.  Training camps are established every summer in convenient localities from two to three months.  Every man capable of bearing arms is in time of war liable to do service in the reserves, from the eighteenth to the fiftieth year of age.

The organization is complete throughout the nation, so that an army of 80,000 men can be mobilized in a few days.  Every cavalryman and artilleryman is required to bring a horse with him when he is called to camp, and the arsenals contain a complete equipment of arms and accoutrements.  The non-commissioned officers are former members of the regular army, in which they must have served three years in the infantry and cavalry or four years in artillery and engineers.  During this period they are given a practical education in books and in the mechanical duties of the soldier.  They are taught to repair guns, manufacture powder, make harness, shoe horses, and do everything else that is likely to come within their experience in the field.  This training is highly valued by the young men of the country, particularly by boys from the farms, because it gives them a certain social standing, the right to wear a uniform, and a corresponding amount of influence in the community.  This regular army school takes in about 1,700 young men every year.

The officers are educated in a military college.  The complete course covers five years for the staff, artillery, and engineer corps.  Candidates must first have graduated from one of the government technical schools.  The infantry and cavalry course is three years.  Graduates are appointed second lieutenants in the regular army, and are promoted through the regular grades.