the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 172 and the two other commoner Estates claimed that the proposal went against the Swedish law and would lead to conflicts between the Estates of the Realm. Therefore, they strongly disapproved of the proposal that the court of appeal would be a forum privilegiatumfor the nobility. The king’s rejoinder was that the court of appeal should only be first instance for the nobility in a limited number of disputes, and eventually, all Estates agreed to the proposal.466 Thus, the forum privilegiatumfor the nobility was renewed and regulated once again in the Ordinance of Judicial Procedure in January 1614.467 This ordinance provided Sweden with its first supreme court, the Svea Court of Appeal.468 For the first time, justice was centred in the capital Stockholm, and the era of ambulatory royal justice had come to an end. Formally, the court of appeal in Stockholm was the ultimate instance, but in 1615 the king preserved the right of a litigant to petition the sovereign for redress.469 The court of appeal in Stockholm lost its position as the highest instance, and was soon followed by three other appeal courts within the realm, but the Svea Court remained the most prominent one.470 The appeal court’s head, the Lord High Steward, was assisted by four members of the Council of the Realm and nine judges (assessors). Five of the assessors appointed to the court were noblemen, while the other four were commoners.471 They were to function as a bench of judges, giving 466 Posse, Johan August 1850 pp. 40-43. 467 The 1614 Ordinance of Judicial Procedure, paragraph 14, inKongl. stadgar, ed. Schmedeman, pp. 138-139. 468 The Act of Authorization from King Gustav II Adolf to the Court of Appeal dated 16 February 1614, in Kongl. stadgar, ed. Schmedeman, p. 141. 469 The 1615 Procedural Rules for the Court of Appeal, paragraph 35 (beneficium revisionis), inKongl. stadgar, ed. Schmedeman, p. 161. The 1615 Procedural Rules for the Court of Appeal also referred to theOrdinance of Judicial Procedure when it came to the forum privilege and the noble disputes which were to be resolved by the Svea Court of Appeal: “Alle privilegieradhe Personers Saker, förnemligh Ridderskapet och Adelns effter Privilegiernes lydelse, och at ther medh hållas efter then Rättegångz Ordinantie, som i Örebro bewiljat är,” The 1615 Procedural Rules for the Court of Appeal, paragraph 20:5, inKongl. stadgar, ed. Schmedeman, p. 156. 470 The Svea Court of Appeal was followed by three more appeal courts in the seventeenth century: one for Finland located in Turku (1623), one for Livonia and Ingria in Tartu (1630) and one for the southern parts of Sweden in Jönköping (1634), Trolle Önnerfors, Elsa 2014 pp. 130-132. 471 The 1614 Ordinance of Judicial Procedure, paragraph 11, printed inKongl. stadgar, ed. Schmedeman, p. 137.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=