393 Both the bishop’s official property and the independent parish churches are according to the Old Swedish laws juridical persons. The old idea about the juridical person as a direct consequence of an increased influence of canon law cannot be maintained without further notice. It must be possible that there has been, also in precanon Teutonic law, some kind of juridical person or in any case official property or possessions belonging to the Teutonic group of family, which was more or less independent of the physical person who was its administrator. This separation from the total administration of the ting and the province got a quite new starting-point with the creation of the Swedish chapters. The chapter became, beside the bishop, the or,»'an of the Church which, in economic and legal matters, made the freedom of the Church obvious. In the first place, the right of the chapter to elect the bishop became a matter of the greatest importance. The first traces of chapters in Sweden date from the end of the twelfth century. The chapters in question, much discussed about, have often been supposed to be of a regular kind. About the middle of the thirteenth century, in connection with the visit of the legate William of Sabina, the majority of the secular chapters in the Swedish dioceses were created. There are certain signs to indicate that the king and the central government has encouraged this development. ITie creating of the chapters makes both an end and a starting-point as to the relations between the bishop and the Swedish community. Now the Church had an administration organ of its own, outside the formal influence of the ting and the province. The way to a continued influence over the Church went, for the province aristocracy, via a seat in chapter. As to the appointment and investiture of the bishop in the Swedish province community of the early Middle Ages, the most important source is the old law of the province of Västergötland. This regulation must, of course, be seen and interpreted in the light of all other material of current interest, in laws, in old writs, and in relating sources. If we consider the collected source material, the appointments of bishops can, during this time, hardly have been a uniform procedure. The old ecclesiastical sources often look at the bishop as from outside ordained by the archbishop, above all during the epoch of mission. Other sources give to understand that the king had a decisive influence. No doubt, the king also played an important role at least in certain provinces. However, to draw a parallel from that to the
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