the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 186 as marriage and inheritance, but during the seventeenth century it had become increasingly outmoded, especially in relation to financial matters. In addition, the perception of the family and family law had changed. Throughout this period, the focus shifted increasingly towards respect for the wishes of the individual, with the result that the system had to balance the rights of individuals to determine the disposition of their wealth against the interests of close relatives. The increasing use of wills was made more problematic by the virtual absence of legislation pertaining to them, and it became increasingly obvious that this absence of legislation was causing major problems. The legal position was very unclear, and this created confusion and uncertainty for the courts hearing cases of disputed wills, which in turn resulted in an uneven administration of justice and sometimes in situations in which case law came into conflict with statutory law as well.519 During the second half of the seventeenth century, the will became a legal strategy used primarily to protect and distribute private property. Some were death-bed wills, but the large majority of wills were drawn up well in advance of the death of the testator. Two types of testamentary disposition could be identified during the period: some were wills where the testator had direct heirs and wished to either favour or discriminate against one or several of the children, while others were cases where the testator was childless and willed his or her property to the his widow or her widower through a joint will. The testators had similar reasons for making a will; for example, it gave them the opportunity to decide for themselves on the distribution of their property in a future disposition of the estate.520 In the seventeenth century, wills became more commonly used, at least within the higher strata of society. The number of contested will increased considerably during the second half of the century. In the years 1680-1686 alone, the Svea Court of Appeal settled as many disputes about wills as for the whole period before 1650. The records of this court from the second half of the seventeenth century show that the typical will disputes could be divided into two groups: disputes between widows and children and disputes among siblings. A contributing factor to this pattern was almost 519 Trolle Önnerfors, Elsa 2014 pp. 38-39. 520 Trolle Önnerfors, Elsa 2014 p. 60.
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