The motif was an image of the Emperor, although the seals were increasingly different from those of the monarch.1138 The seals of the English high courts, the parlements and the Reichskammergericht indicate that courts at the same level as the Svea Court of Appeal generally had a representation of the royal arms, with or without minor differences. It seems that the differences were mainly visible in the legends or in details of the motifs. A development in the seals used by the Mechelen court and the Reichskammergericht was that these differences vanished and that seals referring directly to the monarch were used. The foreign examples are similar to the medieval Swedish way of giving final judgements by the King under the royal seal or secretumor a specific ad causas seal. Whilst this was continued in the other countries even after the high courts had been established, the High Council and the Svea Court of Appeal were not given the chance to use some sort of royal seal in Sweden. The image of the King on the seal of a court was understood as giving the judgement the character of the word of the King.1139 In relation to these similar courts, the missing royal arms of the High Council and the Svea Court of Appeal indicate that the courts did not issue the judgement of the King. This accords with the fact that the King in 1614 wanted to reserve final judgement for himself, even if there was no right of general appeal to him. On the other hand, judgements of similar courts in other countries, such as the Frenchparlements and the GermanReichskammergericht,1140 could be revised by the King or Emperor, and these courts still used the arms of the King or Emperor. All in all, royal or final judgement had a double nature. It was a prerogative of the King and was at the same time delegated to permanent high courts. These courts gave the King’s judgement, which could under extraordinary circumstances be revised by the King in person. This dual nature of the final judgement is duly represented in the seals of these courts. They refer in different ways to the King or claim to represent supreme courts, but the opportunity to get a judgement under the actual royal seal is by no means excluded. Although the seal of the Svea Court of Appeal differs from the seals of the similar courts discussed above, it refers to the the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 378 1138 Battenberg, Friedrich 1979 pp. 74-141 and 180. 1139 Battenberg, Friedrich 1979 p. 205. 1140 Petrén, Sture 1964 pp. 22-23.
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