justitia et prudentia, kapitel 7 372 Despite their defects the medievalSwedish laws had a special status. In the period covered by this study the provincial legal codes of land law and the town legal codes of inheritance are the sources of law that appear most frequently in the judgments of the courts of appeal. A discussion of these regulations appears more or less extensively in every case of disputed wills in the period studied. Even if the court of appeal often pointed out that the provincial legal codes of land law were not written with wills in mind, their rules were adhered to in final judgments. In some cases, the court of appeal argued that no other rules were suitable, and, therefore, applied the medieval statutes despite their shortcomings. The medieval laws and habits still had a privileged status among the sources of law in the 17th century. The use of the town legal codes of inheritance was more readily justified since these rules dealt explicitly with wills. In fact, the statutes were concerned with the application of the law in the town courts, but the court of appeal also used this legislation consistently for cases involving property in the countryside. During the century covered by this study, statutory law was supplemented by royal ordinances and many of the new regulations were based on the praxis of the courts of appeal. Such examples are the 1668 regulations covering the town houses of the nobility and the 1669 ordinance on joint wills. The general principle applied by the court of appeal in its judgments was that if the Swedish law was clear and understandable, then it was applied. The law of wills was, however, characterised by new and revised interpretations of old national laws. Above all, the nobility re-interpreted the old laws to suit the interests of their Estate (the House of Nobility was codified as the First Estate in Sweden in 1625), while, at the same time, wishing to avoid too extensive reforms of the law. Period The most common sources of law referred to in the pleas of the parties and in the reasons for a decision of the court of appeal (the most common first) 1640 - 1649 Provincial legal code of land law, town legal code of inheritance, and arguments of equity 1650 - 1659 Provincial legal code of land law, town legal code of inheritance, the Bible and arguments of equity 1660 - 1669 Provincial legal code of land law, town legal code of inheritance, ecclesiastical code of the Uppland provincial laws, arguments of equity and the Bible 1670 - 1679 Provincial legal code of land law, town legal code of inheritance, arguments of equity and the Bible 1680 - 1690 Provincial legal code of land law, town legal code of inheritance, and arguments of equity
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