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the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 16 some researchers had to leave the project for personal reasons, it became obvious that the chapters of the book would largely concentrate on the long seventeenth century, i.e., much the same period already covered in the 350th anniversary Festschrift from 1964. This is also why the book is entitledThe Svea Court of Appeal in the Early Modern Period: Historical Reinterpretations and New Perspectives. The research project had a couple of leading principles in its work. Firstly, the articles in the book had to produce new research and fresh insights into the history of the Court. Secondly, partly related to this, the essays were to be based on archival research using its rich records. While the 300th anniversary article by Ivar Afzelius13 and the 350th anniversary book by Sture Petrén, Stig Jägerskiöld and Tord O:son Nordberg had been excellent pioneering works and a basis for any subsequent research on the Svea Court of Appeal, during recent decades new research questions have been posed. Some of these perspectives are also apparent in this book. Justiznutzung, how legal actors used law courts or legal instruments strategically to further their aims, has been an important aspect of historical research on courts, crime and litigation in the years since Martin Dinges coined the term in the 1990s and early 2000s.14 In their articles, both Anu Lahtinen and Elsa Trolle Önnerfors investigate how the nobility used the Court of Appeal, which was their forum privilegiatum, although the extent of this forum privilege changed over time. While the approach of Trolle Önnerfors is quantitative, Lahtinen qualitatively explores three noble property disputes in depth, highlighting how struggles for the ownership of estates could – and did – drag on for many decades on end. It was difficult to achieve a final conclusion to a court case despite a string of investigations by and verdicts from town courts, royal officials and courts – even the king in person. This partly explains the necessity to have a permanent superior royal court to monitor the goings-on in various provinces and counteract local power bases. However, the cases also indicate that the execution of the verdicts of even the Svea Court of Appeal was not quite straightforward. Lahtinen demonstrates some of the arguments and legal strategies of litigants in the Svea Court of Appeal. She also contributes to the gender perspective by discussing the uses and threats of the guardian13 Afzelius, Ivar 1914 pp. 171-183. 14 E.g., Dinges, Martin 2000 pp. 503-544.

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