During the decades around the turn of the century, 1700, codified law achieved higher esteem at the expense of customary law, precedents, foreign law, general principles and equity.68 The master’s unilateral right to conduct family life was more specifically expressed in police law, particularly in the successive Statutes on Servants and Hired Labourers (Sw. Stadga omTjenstefolck och Legohjon), the first one dating from1664 and the last one from1833. From our 21st century perspective, contractual elements, characterising private law seem to have been overshadowed by components of administrative and police purposes from public law. On the one hand, the master and the servant were considered to be free to choose with whom they should establish a service contract. On the other hand, several rules stipulated the mandatory legal consequences of such an agreement.An essential component of the economic policy that characterised the mercantile system was that the state should regulate enterprises and that entrepreneurs should keep their labourers under harsh discipline.69 p a r t 1 i , c h a p t e r 2 44 . Early modern time 2. 4. 1 status… The chief rule - a relationship between master and servant 68 Jägerskiöld 1984, pp. 681-683; Björne 1995, p. 289. 69 Sigeman 1967, pp. 71 ff. with references.
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