the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 180 few of the disputed estates were situated in the Swedish provinces, not least in Livonia, Estonia and Ingria.499 Other frequent disputes were cases where landed property and factories had been sold for less than their worth because of the seller’s stretched economic situation. One who took advantage of this situation was Grégoire François Durietz (1607 – 1682), who had served as a royal physician to Queen Christina, Charles XGustav (r. 1654 – 1660) and Charles XI, and therefore had excellent connections at the royal court. In the slipstream of the widespread indebtedness among the higher classes, Durietz had acquired several fine hauls. He had a great interest in the Swedish mining business, and over the years he had bought several ironworks (Sw. järnbruk) in Sweden. Many former owners of the factories were in hock, some-thing that Durietz exploited. Among other things, Durietz used to cash in loans and pledges of mining owners as a means to force them to sell their establishments to him for bargain prices. Even if some of the business transactions were somewhat impropriate, the fact that Charles XI had an eye for Durietz for his contributions as a royal physician facilitated the transfer of ownership of the mines to Durietz. But a couple of years after Durietz’s decease in 1682, some of the factories were repossessed by the Crown in connection with the Great Repossession.500 In 1690, another factory was the subject of a dispute in the Svea Court of Appeal. The estate of Durietz was sued by the dissatisfied heirs of a former buyer of one of the mines. The heirs claimed that their ancestor had paid too much to Durietz. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff and Durietz’s heirs had to pay back at least some of the purchase sum.501 A considerable number of the noble cases handled by the Svea Court of Appeal concerned family law matters. The disputes about family law were evenly spread over the period investigated, although an increase can be seen towards the end of the seventeenth century. The family law cases 499 For example, the Svea Court of Appeal settled disputes about the Hapsal estate in Livonia on 14 July and 9 December 1690. In October of the same year, the court determined a case about an estate in Estonia, and in November a house in Reval was subject to trial (RA, SHA, B II a:61). 500 Josephson, C. D. et al.1945 pp. 586-587. 501 Judgement 20 September 1690 (RA, SHA, B II a:61). Disputes about Family Law
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