the court of appeal as legal transfer – heikki pihlajamäki 229 15/86. Inheritance cases were little more than an isolated phenomenon: 3/32, 4/42, and 6/86.617 By far the most numerous criminal cases were the injuria ones, handled accusatorially, of course. Other criminal cases concerning noblemen were rarities, given the fact that it was extremely difficult for the authorities to bring noblemen to court against their will. In 1640, one such case (embezzlement) figures on the docket. Duels were a case apart. Bruiningk’s register shows a concentration of dueling cases during the first half of the 1680s. In 1681 – 85 there were 20 of these, against the five cases in 1671 –75, none in 1676 –80, three in 1686 –90 and again none in 1691 – 95.618 There were some dueling cases earlier in the seventeenth century. One reason for such a large number of cases being concentrated in the early 1680s is that a new Duel Ordinance was in 1682, serving as a legislative background to the campaign against dueling. However, legislation alone hardly explains the craze. Following European models, duels had already been outlawed in 1662. Besides, the campaign began in 1681, when 10 duel cases were prosecuted. Not coincidentally, the reduction of land possessions of the nobility in Livonia began to be planned in the same year. The pressure on the nobility was growing on all fronts, and the curtailment of their dueling habits fits the picture. The Swedish courts of appeal can be described as the most significant standard-bearers of learned legal culture in the realm. It was largely through them that the learned European legal culture reached Swedish legal practice. The reception of learned laws can be understood in two ways, which do not exclude but rather complement each other. Firstly, we can understand the reception in terms of material law. Learned law thus meant the introduction of many kinds of norms in diverse legal fields; for instance, rules regarding wills and inheritance, criminal procedure and contract law. 617 LVA, Akten des Livländischen Hofgerichts 1630 – 1709, 109/2/I-III, Chronologisches Register der Akten des Livländischen Hofgerichts, Zivil- und Anklagesachen, BandIIII (1630-1667, 1668-1680, 1681-1710). 618 LVA, Akten des Livländischen Hofgerichts 1630 – 1709, 109/2/I-II, Chronologisches Register der Akten des Livländischen Hofgerichts, Zivil- und Anklagesachen, BandIIII (1630-1667, 1668-1680, 1681-1710). Legal Culture in the Swedish Courts of Appeal
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=