Count Arvid Rutger Fredriksson Posse (15 February 1820 – 24 April 1901) was a Swedish statesman and estate owner who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1880 to 1883. He represented the Knights and the Nobility in the Riksdag of the Estates from 1856 to 1866. An influential figure of the Lantmanna Party, he was later also a member of the Riksdag (MP), first of the lower house from 1867 to 1881, and then of the upper house from 1882 to 1890; he served in the former from 1876 to 1880 as Speaker of the lower house of the Riksdag.
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Family background and education
Posse was born at Rosendal Castle in Malmöhus County, as the son of Governor Count Fredrik Salomon Posse and Baroness Magdalena Charlotta Bennet. In 1835 he enrolled at Lund University, receiving a law degree in 1840. The same year, he began as a trainee at the Scania and Blekinge Court of Appeal, during which time he worked both at district courts and at the Court of Appeal itself. Later, he was appointed assistant district judge (vice häradshövding) and in 1846 a clerk at the Court of Appeal, and in 1847 was made an associate justice at the court. In 1849 Posse left public service and resettled at Charlottenlund Castle and devoted his time to agriculture, enterprise and local politics (being, e.g., 1865–68 the president of Malmöhus County Council).