insignia of independence – martin sunnqvist 371 Even if Justitiawas a symbol of the virtues of the worldly judge, with the onset of the early modern period, she was no longer necessarily related to the other cardinal virtues but appeared alone, as a symbol of the courts and the judiciary.1105 The sword was then a symbol of the power of the state. The Justitia in the court-room as a reminder for the judge was replaced in the seventeenth century by theJustitiaon the façade of the court house as a way to inspire the general public with respect for the court.1106 Although the coronets and crowns in the seals of the Svea Court of Appeal represented the realm and the king rather thanJustitia, it should be noted that palm fronds occurred in the smaller seals. Whether they were there as a symbol of Justitiaor whether they referred to amore general conception of righteousness1107 is not easy to know. We have seen, however, that the merger of the scales fromAequitas and the name fromJustitia means that two types of justice could be represented byJustitiaas we know her. This means that an interpretation of the change from unbalanced to balanced scales in the seals can be suggested. There is an example from the seventeenth century in which parallel pictures of Aequitas andJustitia can be compared. Justitia then had an unbalanced pair of scales, punishing evil and rewarding virtue, whilst Aequitas has a balanced pair of scales, representing righteousness and equality in treating similar cases similarly and different cases differently. Thus, balanced scales were the scales of Aequitas, representing equality between performances, before God or before the law. The unbalanced scales, on the other hand, were the scales of the sort of justice that Justitia represented: suum cuique tribuere.1108 Unbalanced scales, on the other hand, could also symbolize favours for poor and oppressed.1109 Another important interpretation of the balanced scales was related to one of the virtues of a judge: that he should be in balance as a person. He should not be distracted by friendship or hate. These opposing risks could be symbolized by artists through placing a dog in one of the scales and a snake in the other.1110 This virtue of the judge was, and is, explicitly men1105 Ostwaldt, Lars 2009 pp. 159-179. 1106 Ostwaldt, Lars 2009 pp. 13-14. 1107 Cf. Psalms 92:12: “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” 1108 Ostwaldt, Lars 2009 pp. 188-202, see also p. 105. 1109 Kissel, Otto Rudolf 1997 p. 45. 1110 Ostwaldt, Lars 2009 pp. 104-107.
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