general background – mia korpiola 27 strife and dissensions,” religious disputes between Catholics and Protestants, and the first civil war between the partisans of Duke Karl of Södermanland [later Charles IX] and King Sigismund [of Sweden, r. 1592 – 1599]. After the latter’s deposition, “ruthless persecution of the followers of Sigismund […] and the believers in the old faith” followed. But what Petrén especially emphasized was the increasing lawlessness of the reign of King Charles. “[T]here was also a steady deterioration in the general administration of justice, owing to the slackening of the whole judicial machinery caused by the political unrest.”28 At the Diet in 1611, the Estates and the Council of the Realm had been drawing attention to the lack of judges and trials and the difficulty in having sentences executed as this had been left to the injured party. Consequently, cases dragged on. Concerns were also raised that nobody was to lose his life, freedomor property unless his case had been lawfully examined.29 Petrén refers to the “irregularities of procedure” that “added to the confusion that characterized the functioning of law courts” during the reign of King Charles IX. “One of the most urgent tasks of his king and successor therefore was to put a stop to the dissolution of the judicial institutions.”30 Günter Barudio has pinpointed the prevalence of ordinary crimes, especially offences against the Decalogue, referring to the so-called Ordinance on Heinous Crime of Charles IX in 1611.31 The King was as unsuccessful in improving the conditions of his realm through this ordinance as during the ten previous years of his restless reign.32 The 1614 Ordinance of Judicial Procedure (Rättegångs-Ordinantie) that established the Svea Court also referred to the inadequate state of law and justice in the Realm that the people complained about. The Ordinance attempted to remedy the situation as the King’s office was required to suppress injustice and “to have the wholesome justice reign and be administered” (then helsosamma Justitia […] widh macht hållas och administreras).33 28 Petrén, Sture 1966 p. 263. 29 The proposition (framställning) of the Estates and the Council of the Realm on the King’s assurance (konungaförsäkran), 19 Dec. 1611, Svenska riksdagsakter, 1. series, 2:1, ed. Ahnlund, pp. 62-64. 30 Petrén, Sture 1966 p. 264. To a lesser degree, see also Thunander, Rudolf 1993 p. 9. 31 K. Carl den IX Straff-Ordning (1611) in Kongl. stadgar, förordningar, bref, ed. Schmedeman, pp. 130-131. 32 Barudio, Günter 1982 p. 141. 33 Rättegångs-Ordinantie (1614), inKongl. stadgar, ed. Schmedeman, pp. 133-134.
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