This thesis focuses on chapter 3 articles 8 and 12 of the Ordinance Act, whichdeal with local ordinances issued by the municipalities. It was Vellinge municipality's local ordinances on the prohibition of begging that triggered an extensivedebate about preconditions for local ordinances and the relationship between themunicipal self-government and the normative power. In addition, it raises thequestions of whether local regulations on the prohibition of begging restrict freedom of expression and whether they are discriminatory. Vellinge's local ordinances were submitted to the Supreme Administrative Court (HFD) to decidethe case as the highest instance.HFD states in the case 2018 ref. 75 that local ordinances issued by the municipalities take into account the principle of municipal self-government. This statement has been criticized on the ground that local ordinances should not be considered as a municipal activity. The principle of municipal self-government therefore should not be actualized in local ordinances. But HFDs statement is compatible with the bill to the law, which states that with regard to municipal selfgovernment, the authority to issue local ordinances are given to the municipalitiesand not to the county administrative board. However the county administrativeboard should be able to review all the prerequisites for adopting local regulations.Furthermore, HFD has not dealt with this issue whether local ordinances onthe prohibition of begging conflict with regulations of a higher value or apply toissues that must be regulated by law. HFD has thus not dealt with whether theban on begging restricts freedom of expression and whether it is discriminatory. Begging can be considered as an expression in the Form of Government (RF)and is protected by freedom of expression. The ban on begging therefore violatesfreedom of speech and it must, however, be regulated by law and not by localregulations.Furthermore, given that the ECHR is considered a law in Sweden and theEuropean Court of Human Rights refers to the US judicial precedent on freedomof expression, the American law on freedom of speech and begging has also beenstudied in this thesis in the comparative method.According to the widespread case law in the United States, begging is protected by freedom of expression and regulations prohibiting begging violate beggar’s freedom of expression. There is also no legitimate ground to ban beggingon the streets. The ban on begging can also be considered discriminatory, as it is the peoplefrom Romania and Bulgaria who make up the majority of the beggars in Swedenand it is them who are disadvantaged by these rules.

In order to gain an understanding of how begging is constructed as a societal problem in the local Swedish social context, the aim of this qualitative study was to investigate a number of municipal begging bans in order to make visible societal attitudes that hide behind written language of begging discourse. The data collection method was text collection, and the material was documents in the form of three municipal begging bans (in municipal regulations). The method of analysis was critical discourse analysis (CDA), a form of textual analysis, and the analytical focus was the written discourse in its social context. The municipal begging bans that were analysed testified to a very high degree linguistically about negative societal attitudes towards begging, and the conclusions that could be drawn on the basis of the results were presented in four summarising themes. These where: disruption of public order, a vulnerability that one does not want to contribute to maintaining, ”we and them” and passivity and criminality. These societal attitudes could be summarized as not our vulnerable/poor = not our problem, and were largely hidden behind references to disruption of public order in public spaces.