entangled in insolvency – jussi sallila 289 by a majority composition was abandoned. On the other hand, privileges were to be upheld, which ran counter to the logic behind the commercial outlook on compositions.829 The order of priority was not regulated by comprehensive legislation before the Code of 1734, but precedents that were cited in early eighteenth-century literature helped to consolidate the order.830 Certain types of claim were given a general lien of a privilege through royal edicts. The authorities on Swedish law acknowledged that much had changed. According to David Nehrman (Ehrenstråhle, 16951769), old Swedish law had given priority only to taxes and tithes, but in more recent times privileges based on the nature of the debt or the vigilance of the creditor in pursuing his claim had abounded.831 The consolidation of the order of payment understandably reflected the power of the various creditors. The privileged position of the crown was strong in Swedish law even before 1680. During the 1680s, the absolutist aim to further expand the scope of these privileges was limited in the case law of the Svea Court of Appeal.832 On the other hand, the versio in remprivileges of investments in the Swedish mining industry and shipping were established as part of the law of the land.833 This reflected changes in Swedish economy after 1680. The new elite that made up the group supporting Charles XI consisted of officers, civil servants and wealthy Stockholm merchants with many economic and family ties to mining and shipping interests. Many leading figures of the Stockholm town administration also switched to high positions in state government.834 According to Nyström, the reduktion and the introduction of absolutism meant a regime change in which a “bourgeois-military-bureaucratic complex” took power in Sweden.835 The economic vision of this new “power elite” differed from the adventurous plans to make Sweden a great commercial power by attracting foreign merchants. Instead, Swedish mining 829 Jägerskiöld, Stig 1967b p. 324. 830 Jägerskiöld, Stig 1967b pp. 379-380; Benckert, Karl 1920. 831 Nehrman 1729, p. 314: “Effter Sweriges gamla Lag woro alla skuldfodringar förutan tijonde och afrad […] af lika och enahanda beskaffenhet […] Men aldenstund Lagen i senare tider tillagt then ena Creditoren bättre förmon och rätt, än then andra, dehls för sielfwa giäldens beskaffenhet, dehls ock i förmågo af Creditorens försichtighet och waksamhet: therföre är thet högst nödigt at förstå, hwad om thenna förmon i Lag och Förordningar stadgas.” 832 Jägerskiöld, Stig 1967b pp. 348-354. 833 Munktell, Henrik 1934 pp. 47-54; Jägerskiöld, Stig 1967b pp. 373-375. 834 Corin, Carl-Fredrik 1953, pp. 283-288. 835 Nyström, Per 1983 p. 147.
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