insignia of independence – martin sunnqvist 373 tioned in the oath of judges which contains a part about the judge being uninfluenced by kinship, fear, friendship or bias.1111 Unbalanced scales in this context were a symbol of unfair trial.1112 Balanced scales showing that conflicting interests are balanced through judging is related to this; that inequitable legal positions are restored.1113 Of course, neither the Svea Court of Appeal itself nor the Chancellor or the King, if they answered the questions from the court about the motif of the seal, can have intended to question the virtue of judges in the seal of the court. The meaning of the unbalanced scales in the seal of 1614 is obviously the one of Justitiain opposition toAequitas, representing justice in the sense of suum cuique tribuere. This corresponds well with the fact that the Svea Court of Appeal not only heard appealed cases but also tried cases between noblemen as acourt of first instance, aforum privilegiatum.1114 The question then is why the position of the scales was altered in 1818. To begin with, it could be asked whether there was any reason at all – other than the taste of the designer or the space allowed by the form of the shield. I have researched the archives of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, which often gave advice about designs of seals and inscriptions, without result. I have found no information about the new seal in the archives of the Svea Court of Appeal. There are thus no documents revealing the ideas, if any, behind the change. There are, however, other interesting facts. The president of the court at the time, Henning Adolph von Strokirch (1757 – 1826), was created a baron in 1815. He then got a grant of a new coat-of-arms, a quartered shield with the original family arms in an inescutcheon, and anew crest as well as his old one. The new crest is a sword palewise with a pair of scales fesswise, balancing on the point of the sword. The scales are in perfect balance in relation to the position of the sword.1115 1111 Art. 6, Procedural Rules for the Court of Appeal (Rättegångs-Process), 23 June 1615, in Kongl. Stadgar, ed. Schmedeman, p. 146. 1112 Kissel, Otto Rudolf 1997 pp. 97-102. 1113 Kissel, Otto Rudolf 1997 p. 95. 1114 See art. 14, the 1614 Ordinance of Judicial Procedure, inKongl. stadgar, ed. Schmedeman, pp. 138-139. Cf. the article of Elsa Trolle Önnerfors in this volume. 1115 Where the letter patent in which the title and arms were granted is kept, if it is kept at all, is not known, according to Göran Mörner, genealogist at the House of Nobility (personal communication, 15 Jan. 2014). My reference is, instead, the shield at the House of Nobility, painted close in time to the grant of arms. see illustration 13, page 372
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