the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 112 Council elected its new members itself, although the Crown had the right to supervise the elections and all the meetings of the Council via its representative, the royal bailiff.297 In the sixteenth century, King Gustav Vasa (reigned 1523 –1560) started to interfere in the elections of new burgomasters more regularly than his predecessors had done.298 During the era of his sons, and especially his grandson, King GustavII Adolf (r. 1611– 1632), it also became customary for the Crown to choose new burgomasters formally on the advice of the Council.299 The members of the Council also formed the Town Court (referred to as borgmästare och råd, rådstugu, rätten, or rådhusrätt), which supervised a lower court (kämnärsrätt) in which two councillors functioned as judges.300 The burgomasters and the councillors were not full-time judges – in fact, most of them were merchants who supported themselves mainly by income from their own trades. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, virtually no burgomaster or councillor had received formal higher education, their knowledge of the law being based more on their own experiences and the collective traditions as well as their understanding of how the Town Law had to be applied.301 The leading members of the Svea Court of Appeal belonged to the nobility and the rest, holding minor positions, were at least educated men.302 Although the Court of Appeal did not consist only of nobles, it formed a superior elite compared with the town courts in terms of its social status and level of higher education. Thus there were predisposing circumstances for social antagonisms and even rivalry between the two courts. The Stockholm Town Court had never been a fully independent, autonomous entity, however: in the Middle Ages the burgomasters and the councillors had been obliged to share their judicial and communal power with the royal bailiff, who controlled the royal castle on the main island. Members of the Council of the Realm (riksråd), even the King or the Re297 Magnus Erikssons Stadslag, Konungsbalken (Chapter on the King) § 1, Rådstugubalken (Chapter on the Town’ Court) § 2. 298 Peterzén, Ingvar 1945 pp. 6-11. 299 Ericson, Lars 1988 p. 39, 112, 145; Einonen, Piia 2005 p. 59. 300 Ericson, Lars 1988 pp. 252-255; Lamberg, Marko 2001, pp. 191-195. 301 Einonen, Piia 2005 pp. 57-61. Regarding the medieval period, see Lamberg, Marko 2001 pp. 54-57. 302 Anjou, A. 1899; Petrén, Sture 1964 p. 48. See also the chapter written by Marianne Vasara-Aaltonen in this volume.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=