summary 363 vely deliver judgments in the King’s name, but soon the King reserved the right to review cases that had already been proven by them. Between 1640 and 1690, the Svea Court of Appeal heard 169 cases relating to the law of wills. Of these, 40 were subject to a review by the King/Queen in Council, and it is primarily these 40 cases that this study focuses on. In over 75 per cent of these cases, the parties were members of the Swedish nobility. Two features of the legal process which were not subject to regulation by statute during the 17th century are central to my study. Firstly, this study examines how the Svea Court of Appeal dealt with the formation of new lawor law-making in its rulings in cases of disputed wills. This raises the question of how matters relating to the legal form of the deed of will and the scope of disposition by will were proven. Secondly, the study focuses on legal argumentation. Law-making was in part influenced by the use lawyers made of new legal terms and legal institutions, and thereby draws attention to the lines of argument 17th century lawyers used in disputes over wills. This aspect of my dissertation involves a study of the arguments, terms and legal institutions which appear in the pleadings submitted by the parties to a case, and in the findings of the courts of appeal. Pertinent to this line of study, is to ask where the sources of inspiration for the legal arguments and solutions could be found and how new judicial ideas and concepts interacted with previous legal traditions. The aim of this study is to place law-making in relation towills and the argumentation associated with this law-making into the broader cultural context of the legal system, with a view to increasing our understanding of the work of lawyers and the nature of the structures of knowledge during the period in question. In Sweden, the practice of disposing of property and estates by making a will first appeared during the Middle Ages. The main purpose of the medieval will was to make donations for pious and charitable purposes (ad pios usus), such as donations to churches and convents. The medieval Swedish rules of inheritance, however, were based on the view that family came first when possessions were to be distributed; property, in particular real estate, was to be kept within the family. But this rule of inheritance could be circumvented, at least in part, if the express wishes of the deceased had been manifest in a deed of will. It was, however, quite uncommon for people in Sweden, irrespective of status, to make a will during this pe-
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