the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 322 enabling their rise to the second class of the court. The third class judges all appear to have had successful careers within the Svea court or in the Crown administration. It is worth noting that all of them were ennobled during their careers.949 The first two classes of the court in 1674 do not show many changes compared to earlier years. Although in 1654 there were a few judges with more judicial careers, this does not seem to be a continuing trend yet. The careers are still based on various tasks in the civil administration, and for the president’s part in the military as well. The only notable difference is that only two of the assessors had been on diplomatic journeys abroad. The focus should, however, be put on the third class of the court, which starts to build careers within the Svea court. Seven of the ten judges held one or more positions at the court prior to their assessorships. Of these seven, two made longer careers at the court, working as both an actuary and notary. The remaining three had previous careers as professor of eloquence, town court judge and town clerk (stadssyndicus; sekreterare) and hofmeister. Later functions included memberships of the 1686 law commission and the office of revision secretary. Unlike twenty years before, now only three of these ten judges were ennobled.950 In 1694, there were no first class assessors present at the court; only the president, vice president and the second and third class assessors. The president of the court, count Gustaf Adolf De la Gardie, son of Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie (1622 – 1686), still represents a career path that had traditionally led to apost in the first class of the court:diplomacy, military service and a seat on the Council of the Realm. As was already the case, the careers of the vice president and the second class assessors were still a combination of administrative and judicial tasks. While twenty years earlier, the third class judges showed signs of careers within the court before becoming assessors, in 1694 this is not the case. Like the second class assessors, they too combined careers in the administration and judiciary, just not within the Svea Court of Appeal. For most of them, a clear emphasis on law-related positions can still be seen, and experience in judicial matters was obtained through various tasks. Pehr Broméen, for instance, took part in the witch commission in 1676, advanced from assessor to vice 949 Anjou, A. 1899 p. 4 and passim. 950 Anjou, A. 1899 passim.
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