the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 136 Together, Birgitta and Torsten had had three daughters (Margareta, Agneta and Märta) and three sons (Magnus, Ivar, Lars). None of the sons had children, so when they died, all of the landed property of the family should have been inherited by the daughters, their children, and grandchildren. However, the sons and their widows had given away or sold some inherited property. Moreover, some of the fatherless rightful heirs, such as Anna, ended under an abusive guardianship until they grewup and got married. As a result, in the early seventeenth century, the proprietary rights of the individual heirs were a complicated puzzle. The villains of the first court case were the guardians of Anna Johansdotter. According to the law, the property of minors and unmarried women was to be administered by a father, a widowed mother, or the nearest male relative. The guardian was expected to take care of the property for the benefit of the minor and the maid. Any alienation of her or his inherited landed property could be invalidated after the minor had grown up or awoman had got married.374 In practice, it seems that guardians were not automatically to be trusted.375 In Anna’s case, her inherited property had firstly been taken care of and usurped by her maternal uncle and guardian, Hans Johansson Stålarm. Hans Johansson had had disputes with other female relatives too, and he seems to have neglected the duties of a guardian and sought his own benefit.376 After Hans Johansson, the property of Anna and her siblings had been usurped by the husband of Anna’s second cousin, Karl Persson Svinhufvud, and Arvid Hansson Stålarm, son of Hans Johansson.377 In other words, at the turn of the seventeenth century, the property that had originally belonged to the family of Anna’s paternal great-grandparents according to the law, was in the hands of quite distant relatives and in-laws. 374 See the Law of the Countryside of King Christopher of Bavaria, Kuningas Kristoferinmaanlaki 1442, ed. Ulkuniemi (hereafter KrL), Jordabalken (Chapter on Land), section 18. As sources for the law code, I have used the comments inMagnus Erikssons landslag by Åke Holmbäck & Elias Wessén and the Finnish translationKuningas Kristoferin maanlaki 1442 by Martti Ulkuniemi (see bibliography). 375 On problems, see Korpiola, Mia 2005 pp. 3–5; Korpiola, Mia 2009 pp. 175-179, 294296. 376 Hans Johansson Stålarm’s heated correspondence with Elin Stålarm, widow of Lars Torstensson Ram (letter by Hans in 20 Feb 1602 and an undated answer by Elin, in Biografica, Lars Torstensson Ram, in National Archives of Sweden; Lahtinen 2009a pp. 77, 227 note 158. 377 Planting-Gyllenbåga, Wilhelm 1900 pp. 1-11.
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