general background – mia korpiola 41 tions were usually later-medieval and sixteenth-century statutes, royal manorial laws (gårdsrätt) regulating the discipline in royal castles and manors and other practical material that judges could need in their work. The latter included the Judge’s Rules by the Reformator Olaus Petri (1493 – 1552), oath formulas for use in law courts, words of wisdom for judges and glossaries of old words in the law book. Thus, the Swedish lay judges did not have uniform law books that they would have consulted when adjudicating, which was another factor contributing to the varying legal practice. Some decades later, in 1592 –1593, Duke Karl of Södermanland proposed that prior to writing any new law books, the contents should be inspected by experts. The version authorized by the king and the experts would then be in force, unlike the other, unauthorized versions. At the diet in 1595, the Duke repeated his proposal to review and ameliorate the law.90 In 1602, Duke Karl, then King Charles IX, suggested reviewing, reforming and printing the law because of the confusion which he claimed was such that there were hardly two identical copies to be found in the realm.91 Against this background, the assertion of Charles IXin his confirmation of Christopher’s Law of the Realm of 1442, printed in 1608, that there was a need to have “one certain copy among so many different law books (ibland så månge åtskillige Laghböker något wist exemplar hade)” so that it could neither be lost nor forged, can be seen in a new light. Moreover, printing the law would enable people “to follow it generally” (effter hwilket man sigh almänneligen rätta kunde), which would lead “to general well-being and to a significant increase in justice” (til mycken wälfärd och rättwijsan til märkeligh förkoffring).92 Because the Swedish laws circulated in manuscript, there were attempts to have them standardized and updated. In 1566, the estates consented to King Erik XIV’s proposal that the Swedish law be printed with corrections.93 However, the King never managed to realize these plans before he was deposed two years later. In response to the proposal of Charles IX in 1602, the estates decided that the law of Sweden was to be updated and printed together with the supplementary statutes and norms. A law draf90 Lagförslag i Carl den Niondes tid, ed. Nordström, p. vii. 91 Lagförslag i Carl den Niondes tid, ed. Nordström, p. vii. 92 Stadfästelse på Landz-Lagen, 20 Dec. 1608, Kongl. stadgar, ed. Schmedeman, p. 128. 93 Entry on 15 March 1566, Erik XIV:s almanacks-anteckningar, ed. Stenbock, p. 10: “Ut Leges imprimantur Svecanice cum correctionibus etiam conscensum[!] est.”
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