general background – mia korpiola 43 made following German models, a special Council (regementsråd) consisting of secular magnates and officials as well as of some ecclesiasticals was appointed. There is information on its activities for the province of West Gothia and Dal where the Council adjudicated in the name of King Gustav at least in 1540 –1542, consulting him in difficult cases and deciding in accordance with the guidelines. However, this experiment was short-lived. Under King Gustav’s son and heir, ErikXIV, other attempts to create a more or less permanent royal superior court were made. His so-called “High Council” (Höga nämnd or konungsnämnd), consisting of noblemen and officials, judged by royal authority. In 1563, King Erik authorized it to visit all the provinces and adjudicate in the name of the king all cases that could not be resolved by the lagman. The sentences of the court were as authoritative as those of the king. It both accepted wagered cases and first instance cases. It resembled to some extent a manorial or castle court (borgrätt) adjudicating over the garrison and staff of the castle, but with wider powers. Nevertheless, the High Council gained a bad reputation by acting as the tribunal for condemning people accused of lese-majesty and treason. The political trials also involved noblemen, and torture was occasionally used during them. Torture was not authorized by Swedish law, and it contributed to the disrepute of the Court and its abolition after the coup d’état and accession of the future John III.99 King Erik had also made attempts to control the practice of the lower courts in 1563 as he ordered that all district judges (häradshövding) were to deliver their “true, clear and unforged court records” for inspection annually on pain of forfeiting their office forever.100 In Erik’s instructions of 1563, if the parties were dissatisfied with the judgement of his High Council in a dispute involving landed property, they could appeal (haffue Appellation) to the king. But it remained unclear whether the termmeant a legal 98 E.g., “Några handlingar till Gustaf I:s historia”, pp. 194-198; “Ståthållaren Gustaf Olofsson Stenbocks och Biskop Svens i Skara redogörelse,” ed. Styffe, pp. 83-159. 99 E.g., Instruction of Erik XIVfor crown officials during his absence from Stockholm during a military campaign, 1 Nov. 1563, inHandlingar rörande Skandinaviens historia, 27, pp. 22-24; Konung Erik XIV:s nämnds dombok, ed. Silfverstolpe; Rosén, Jerker 1955 see esp. 37-64. 100 Instruction of ErikXIVfor crown officials during his absence from Stockholm during war, 1 Nov. 1563, inHandlingar rörande Skandinaviens historia, 27, p. 27: “schole alle häredtzhöfdinger åhrligen lefrere in vthi hög:te Kongl. Mtz Cammer wisse klare och oförfalschede domböker så frampt the wele icke ombäre och misste häredtzhöffdinge dömer etc. och thet aldrig igen bekomme.”
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