the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 284 When Jägerskiöld speaks of the interpretations that the town court had adopted, he does so in cautious terms, implying that the line might have been subject to change.809 It is possible to speculate why the more commercial outlook on insolvency and the possibility of a fresh start that accompanied it had acquired some popularity in Stockholm during the 1670s. In the context of the Gothenburg and Landskrona privileges, special provisions concerning insolvency had been part of a plan to promote international trade. In the 1660s and 1670s, the government promoted the idea of Sweden as the major gateway to Russian trade. Stockholm was one of the leading centres of commercial intelligence on Russia. In his Marxist analysis of these commercial projects, Per Nyström stressed that the perspective of these international capitalists was detached from the narrow outlook of domestic burghers and ready to break the boundaries set by political traditions and local institutions.810 The commercial intelligence network also spread to the municipal administration of Stockholm. The writer of a major memorandum on Russian trade, Johan Filip Kilburger was chosen as the public notary of Stockholm in 1675, and also worked as a lawyer in the private sector.811 Of course, it would be difficult to test this hypothesis. In the Stockholm of the 1660s and 1670s, there were many adventurous plans that did not lead to lasting results. According to Nyström, the regency government engaged in “frantic” and “audacious” modernization projects, reforming commercial law and related fields of legislation. In many cases, the plans remained on paper because of the acute lack of finance.812 Some of the reform projects, like the establishment of a commercial court under the auspices of the College of Commerce, did not succeed. The most significant legal reform related to commerce accomplished during the period was the Maritime Code enacted in 1667.813 If the attempts to establish a special commercial jurisdiction had succeeded, such courts could have served as an institutional basis for an insolvency law based on the commercial outlook. 809 Jägerskiöld, Stig 1967b p. 321: “åtminstone till vissa tider.” 810 Nyström, Per 1989 pp. 242-245 811 Nyström, Per 1989 pp. 216-217. 812 Nyström, Per 1955 pp. 112-115. 813 Pihlajamäki, Heikki 2012 pp. 1025-1029.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=