slandering the king and his councillors – per nilsén 207 royal ordinances and rescripts573 series contained 16 handwritten volumes. Cases and matters relating to slander of the King and his councillors are thematically listed in volume four of the series, On offences against authority, against civil servants etc.574 The material was, according to the volume’s title page, collected from 1685 and was presented to the Court of Appeal in 1688 but it was, as will be seen below, updated after that. The first chapter of the volume deals withManifest treasonsuch as rebellion and the second chapter withOffences with words and disrespect for authority. Every chapter is subdivided into groups, causæ, such as Gross speaking against the King and Government; punished by death, man as well as woman and every causa is illustrated by (at least) a short version of aCourt of Appeal decision, a case report to the King, a royal sentence or a royal letter. The purpose of the collection was to interpret or define the law. The letters are by no means always addressed to the Svea Court of Appeal itself and it seems clear that Becchius made a point of collecting royal letters and other such opinions regardless of addressee as long as they served the purpose of explaining the law. Sometimes the causa is illustrated by several decisions. In total, the chapter is divided into 33 different causæ. Herbolt the Bullet Caster has one of his own: “causa 23–Illicit speaking against the Government of the Realm; punished by exile.”575 The Becchiusmaterial provides us with an overview of how the Svea Court of Appeal (and the monarch) interpreted the regulations of the medieval laws in order to adapt them to seventeenth-century society, characterized by a strengthening of central (royal) power, increasing literacy and professionalization in both military and civil service. This development will be illustrated by some of the leading cases in the collection. 573 RA, RA:s ämnessamlingar, Juridica I: Becchius-Palmcrantz’ samlingar, B. Kungl Svea hovrätts domar och förklaringar om hals- och livssakerna med tillhöriga kungl förordningar och reskripter. 574 RA, RA:s ämnessamlingar, Juridica I: Becchius-Palmcrantz’ samlingar, Vol. 4: Om förgripelse emot höga överheten, dess rätt, regemente, höghet, råd, ämbeten, bud och befallningar, med gärning och ordom. 575 RA, RA:s ämnessamlingar, Juridica I: Becchius-Palmcrantz’ samlingar, Vol. 4. Cap. 2, causa 23. Judicial Practice according to Becchius
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