290 Summary it could be raised and upheld. This was a society in which security of tenure was not very pronounced. Nor did the central state have any real insight into or control over the land transactions of the population. Instead, old and respected members of local communities influenced the outcome of land disputes to a considerable extent. Thus, local norms and the old national legal code dominated the picture until approximately 1680. State regulation and control, which are often emphasised in discussions of this period, were still largely absent, at least as far as the property rights systemwas concerned. Chapter 7. The reasons for and function of ancient usage What were the reasons for the situation described in the previous chapters? Why was ancient usage generally looked upon with great respect in those days, despite the problems which this principle could cause for individual members of society and, sometimes, for the Crown? To answer this question, we have to consider several different causes. To start with, it might be useful to point out that the Swedish word hävd (noun, hävda verb), had—and still has—at least five different meanings. Hävd (from hava ‘to have, to hold’) is synonymous with holding or possession. It also denotes a time limit after which no claims can be raised, i.e. it stands for prescription. Both these meanings are correctly conveyed by the common Latin translations possessio immemorialis orpraescriptio immemorialis. But the verb hävda also means ‘take good care of’ or ‘use in the appropriate manner’. This IS something the Latin expressions fail to conv^ey, and the same is true of the other two meanings: hävd can be synonymous with custom{hävdvunnen being a good translation for customary) and, finally, hävda can be used to designate the act of showing clearly that you profess to have a certain right {att hävda sin rätt ‘to assert one’s right’). As was shown in chapter 4, the first meaning is important to our understanding of how ancient usage was associated with the concept of possessio and the procedural advantages it entailed. But the third meaning is also very important. Respecting ancient usage meant respecting the labour and care that had been invested in the
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