the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 178 Disputes about economic matters such as debts, claims and bankruptcy were relatively few until the 1690s, when they completely exploded in number.491 Frequently occurring cases about economic matters often concerned debts and claims of various kinds,492 as well as disputes about interest. Indebtedness was a persistent problem within the Swedish nobility at this time, partly because of the Great Repossession. Many noblemen were on the verge of bankruptcy and had to fight in the courts to retain at least something of their former assets. One example was the former Lord High Chancellor, once one of the wealthiest land owners in seventeenth century Sweden, Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie (1622 –1686). The Inquisition (Sw. förmyndarräfsten) and the Great Reduction or Repossession (Sw. den stora reduktionen) in the 1680s had hit him hard, and perhaps no other man was as negatively affected by the reduction as he was. De la Gardie lost almost his whole fortune through the repossessions made by the Crown, and died practically destitute in 1686.494 In the late seventeenth century, the Crown had become more efficient in claiming funds which belonged to the state. One example of this was the appeal court case from 1690 where the Crown sued the estate of Wilhelm Drakenhielm (1624 – 1676), a distinguished customs officer. After his decease in 1676, the Crown discovered that Drakenhielm had failed to declare all the duties that he had collected as a customs officer for a number of years. Perhaps Drakenhielm had kept the money as security for a loan that he had given to the Crown in the 1660s, but the mix-up of private and governmental funds was improper. The Crown regarded the money as public revenue, wanted it back and therefore sued Drakenhielm’s two daughters and the estate in several courts during the 1670s and 1680s.495 In 1690, the dispute was finally settled by the Svea Court of Appeal, and 491 For further reading on Svea Court of Appeal and the legal view on bankruptcy, see the contribution of Jussi Sallila in this volume. 492 For example, the Svea Court of Appeal passed sentences in noble disputes about claims on 3 April 1680 (RA, SHA, B II a:51) and in 1690, on the 14 April, 15 July (two judgements), 25 Oct., 8 Nov. and 24 Dec. (RA, SHA, B II a:61). 493 For example, the Svea Court of Appeal handed down verdicts in noble disputes about interest on 17 July 1650 (RA, SHA, B II a:22), 7 May 1670 (RA, SHA, B II a:42) and 12 April 1690 (RA, SHA, B II a:61). 494 Rystad, Göran 2001 pp. 181-183. 495 Hildebrand, Bengt – Jacobson, G.1945 p. 430. Disputes about Economic Matters
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