the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 204 According to the Procedural Rules for the Court of Appeal of 23 June 1615, the Court was given responsibility for the adjudication of “all Crimina læsa Majestatis”.560 The basic regulations concerningcrimen læsæmaiestatis were to be found in medieval legislation: King Magnus Eriksson’s Town Law (ca. 1360)561 and King Christopher’s Law of the Countryside (1442), a revised and more aristocracy-friendly version of the older King Magnus Eriksson’s Law of the Countryside.562 In the Town Law, rebellion – a severe form of crimen læsæ maiestatis – was defined in the Book on Heinous Crimes (högmålsbalken) and slander of the King or his councillors in the Book on the King (kungabalken), chapter eight: The 1442 Law of the Country shows a similar pattern, rebellion being criminalized in the Chapter on Heinous Crimes eight and nine, and slandering the King and his councillors in the Chapter on the King, section nine: 560 Kongl. May:tz til Swerige Rättegångs Process […], article 20:2, printed inKongl. stadgar, ed. Schmedeman, p. 156. 561 Concerning the dating, see Holmbäck, Åke – Wessén, Elias 1966 pp. LV–LXXXVII. 562 On the two editions of the Law of the Country, see Holmbäck, Åke – Wessén, Elias 1962 pp. XIII–L. 563 “Um någhor talar å Konungen eller Konungz Rådh, thet å thera heder gånger, ock äro sex gode män til witne: Thå skal man i Stadsens Gömo sätias, och halshugin warda. Finnas orden annorledis, Thå skal Fogaten, Borgamästara och Rådhmän öfwer han döma, epter thy them är widerkänneliget för Konunge eller hans Rådhe: Eller skal han i Stadsens Järn sätias, ther Konunger ther sielfwer öfwer komber ock dömer, Eller Fogaten ock Rådhmän epter Konungz budhi: än han giter eigh Borgan fore sik satt, ” Swerikes Stadz-Lagh, ed. Arnell, pp. 29–30. Cf. MESL, pp. 5, 25–26. “Command” or “judgment” depend on the manuscript version used; the prinLegal Regulations and Judicial Practice If anyone speaks against the King or the King’s Councillors in a way that attacks their honesty and there are six good men as witnesses, then he shall be put in the town’s custody and be beheaded. If the words are different [i.e., not implying dishonesty], then the bailiff, the burgomaster and town councillors shall judge him in a way that they can answer for before the King or his Council or he shall be put in irons until theKingHimself comes and judges himor the sheriff and the town councillors do according to the King’s command (or: judgement) if he cannot stand bail.563 If anyone speaks ill of the King or of His Councillors, one or many, attacking their honesty or honour and he cannot prove it and six good men who heard it bear witness, then he shall be beheaded. If he speaks other abusive words,
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