the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 304 somewhat of an exception in this regard, especially concerning the composition of the courts and the judges’ education. It is often mentioned that they had “studied abroad,” but no thorough research has been done on what the educational level actually was, and how many had studied abroad. As it was a time when there were no formal educational requirements, it is equally important to examine the judges’ careers to see what paths led them to their positions. Many of the Svea judges took part in law commissions, which probably shifted some of the court practice down to legislation – another reason why judges’ education is interesting.864 This article aims to give a comprehensive picture of the educational and career backgrounds of the Svea Court of Appeal judges, and to answer some of the questions left for further research in Nilsén’s article on the judges of the Swedish courts of appeal.865 The time period discussed in this article encompasses roughly the first two centuries of the court’s existence – from its establishment in 1614 to the end of the Gustavian era in 1809. This period covers interesting and important events in Swedish history. The early seventeenth century was a time at which a centralised administration and judiciary were being created. The aristocracy had a very strong position, and Sweden was rising to become a great power in Europe. The late seventeenth century witnessed a turn to absolutism. After the Great Northern War (1700 – 1721), Sweden had lost its position of power in Europe, and it also marked the end of absolutism and the beginning of the Age of Liberty. This period lasted until 1772 when the enlightened absolutism of Gustav III (r. 1771 – 1792) began. The Gustavian era, in turn, came to an end in 1809 with the Napoleonic and Finnish Wars. It is interesting to examine how these changing circumstances affected the corps of assessors at the court. Since the changes that occurred had stabilised by the late eighteenth century, 1809 forms a suitable ending point for this study. The judges’ education and careers have been examined taking sample years at twenty-year intervals. Thus the years researched are 1614, 1634, 1654, 1674, 1694, 1714, 1734, 1754, 1774, 1794 and 1809. The information about the judges has been compiled using Anton Anjou’s register of Svea Court of Appeal office-holders and the Svenskt biografiskt lexikon.866 This 864 Nilsén, Per 2003 pp. 311-312. 865 See Nilsén, Per 2003. 866 Unfortunately most of the third class assessors of the court are not mentioned in the
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