the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 220 was granted, the case was de factoreconsidered, leaving the difference with Roman-canon appeals not much more than theoretical. Using the concept of legal transfer in dealing with legal developments within one and the same realm may seem strange at first sight. We are more accustomed to using comparative methods between two or more clearly distinct political entities. However, I see no problem comparing parts within one realm, especially (although by no means only) when we are dealing with early modern states. Sweden included, they were typically “composite states.” Early modern princes typically resorted to the model of the composite state, under the umbrella of which the various territories were allowed to retain differing degrees of independence.600 Comparing two or more parts of such a state comes more than naturally. More precisely, I aim to concentrate on the differences between the two courts. The second chapter looks into the normative basis and asks how the statutes governing the structure and the functioning of the courts differed in each case. In the third chapter, I will compare the functions of the courts, asking to what extent they decided appeals and how active they were as first-instance courts. The fourth chapter turns to the legal culture; more specifically, Iwill observe howius commune influenced the practice of the Courts of Appeals of Svea and Dorpat. The fifth chapter is, then, devoted to comparing institutions of criminal procedure, more specifically leuteration, judicial torture, and the prohibition of appeals in criminal cases. The court of appeals did not function in a judicial vacuum. The sixth chapter clarifies the situation of private and patrimonial courts in both Livonia and Sweden, relating the history of these courts to that of the Court of Appeals. The seventh chapter concludes and sums up the results. Livonia, covering roughly present-day Latvia and the southern part of Estonia, became part of Sweden through the Truce of Altmark in 1629, although de jure only with the Peace of Oliva, which ended the Second Northern War (1655 –60) between Sweden, the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Habsburgs and Brandenburg-Prussia.601 Before the truce of 1629, the region had belonged to Poland for almost 70 years. As a result of the Great Northern War, Sweden lost Livonia to Russia. The loss went 600 See Nexon, Daniel H. 2011 pp. 70-71; and Spruyt, Hendrik 1994; Tilly, Charles 1992; Muldoon, James 1999. 601 See Frost, Robert I. 2000.
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