the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 342 Arguments in seventeenth century sources state two reasons for the court’s holidays: judges being able to continue their legal studies and being able to attend to their personal matters. In the 1730s, the justice committee, however, felt that the courts of appeal should also shorten their summer holidays until the caseload had been dealt with. The workload of the courts of appeal had increased during the eighteenth century.1023 A system in which the judges were active participants in various other administrative tasks was becoming a problem for efficient court practice, and could not be overlooked. While there was concern about the frequent absences of the assessors, the judges also voiced some complaints. In a letter to the president of the court in 1691 several assessors complain about the long hours they had to work – from eight in the morning until seven in the evening at the court and even having to continue after getting home. The increasing workload made the judges sickly, they said, but still their pay had not been raised in the same manner as at the other collegia.1024 In the eighteenth century, there were also problems with paying the salaries, as some had to make do with half their salary or no salary at all, and inflation at the end of the Age of Liberty meant that many officials could not manage on their salaries. This forced them to take second jobs, which in turn increased the problem of absences from office and led to complaints.1025 It seems that the problem of men being absent from their tasks was a common one throughout the period. Whereas in the seventeenth century this was because the judges were extensively involved in diplomacy and other matters of state, in the late eighteenth century it appears to have been a necessity to make a living. There are many different views on what constitutes a profession and when this point of professionalization is reached. Scholars have also pointed out the problems presented by the use of nineteenth and twentieth century which had a growing number of unresolved cases. The Justice revision, consisting of Councillors of the Realm, had similar problems to those facing the Svea Court of Appeal, as its members had other pressing political matters to attend to. See Metcalf, Michael F. 1989 p. 7. 1023 RA, SHA, Strödda handlingar ang. hovrätten, F I, vol. 1; Jägerskiöld, Stig 1964 p. 241; Bendz, Gunnar 1935 p. 178; Cavallin, Maria 2003 p. 52. 1024 RA, SHA, Skrivelser från hovrättens personal och från advokater, E III. 1025 Cavallin, Maria 2003 pp. 53, 56-59. Questions of Professionalism
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