The aim of this paper is to examine the regulation of private versus public interests in the planning and building legislation of Sweden between 1874 and 2010. In 1874, Swedish industrialization was emerging and the first modern national planning and building charter was introduced.  This charter is regarded as a precursor to the planning and building law of today – abbreviated PBL – which is the most influential and important law regulating building and planning activity in Sweden today.   

                      From 1874 to 2010, six versions of the PBL and its precursors were launched. This paper examines all law issues[1] in all sections of these laws and codes them as either regulating: 

1) private property interests, or 

2) public property interests, or

3) both private and public interests. 

                      The result of this coding shows that regulation of private interests has increased relative to regulation of public interests over time, and that regulation of both private and public interests has increased relative to the issues regulating either private or public interest. Also, the number of law issues regulating these matters has increased significantly. Together with the qualitative character of the law issues and contextual matters, the results indicate a gradual diminishing of private property rights. This has relevance since property rights are fundamental for functioning markets. 

The paper concludes that the period from 1874 to 1946 was characterized by a public regulation of a market, and that the period from 1947 to 2010 (and onwards until the present time) was characterized by a public steering of a sector. The former period primarily regulated externalities in a relatively free private market, while the latter period to a large extent was, and is, characterized by public control of property and public steering of allocation. The former period is labeled as dynamic, since the fundamentals of the laws developed in line with economic policy as a whole. The latter period is labeled stagnant since the fundamentals of the laws remained the same, regardless of economic policy as a whole.  The public sphere made relatively large inroads into the private sphere during the period examined. The implications of this might be increasing inertia, which is seen as one of the problems of this sector today. 

 [1] A law issue is a part of a law section that regulates one phenomenon.