the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 44 wager, a petition or an appeal proper.101 Therefore, this cannot be taken to mean that the appeal was replacing the wager, although in late medieval Germany, things was moving that way over time so that the appeal (Appellation) was replacing older systems as a legal remedy.102 During the reign of King Charles IX, several attempts were again made to reorganise the royal supreme judicial powers. As Duke, he had been administering justice in his duchy of Södermanland even before the politically turbulent era from the mid-1590s on, as is evident from his register,103 the synodal statutes of the Cathedral chapter of Strängnäs which occasionally consulted him in legal issues,104 and even his calendar. For instance, he observed in February 1586 that he had a court session organized in Strängnäs (let iagh hålle rettegång i Strengnes).105 Later, the Duke also noted some major trials in his calendar, such as that of Peder Lennartsson (or Lindormsson) [Ulfsax] and his wife Brita Nilsdotter [Silversparre] of Holma for various crimes on 19 – 25 January 1596.106 Unlike his brother John III, Charles seems to have attempted to take many steps along the path of the legal revolution as has been indicated above. One of the persisting problems of the Swedish judiciary was the lack of observing the proper court hierarchy in appealing. Before approaching the king, often represented by the Council of the Realm, the parties had first to take their cases to the local tribunals, and, in the case of the countryside, wager the sentences of thelagman’s court. This had been one of the topics of a statute issued by the Duke on the behalf of his nephew King Sigismund in 1593. The same motivation, that approaching the king before the case had been determined by the proper lower courts was against the law and caused “daily endless complaints,” was one of the reasons behind King 101 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, p. 30. 102 Diestelkamp, Bernhard 1998. 103 E.g., RA, Hertig Karls registratur, vol. 21, 1595, microfiche E01028, 7/12: in the summer of 1595, Duke Karl answered letters from Tönne Jörensson, Bengt Nilsson, Peder Bengtsson and Jost Curtzell asking for his instructions on the examination of criminal cases, the punishment of criminals and their execution or pardoning. 104 E.g., Svenska synodalakter efter 1500-talets ingång: 2. serien, Strängnäs stift, I, ed. Lundström, p. 6: “han skulle hafua tolamod […] in til des wår nådige herre och furste hemkommer, ther han widare kunne sig rådfråge.” 105 Calendaria Caroli IX, ed. Lewenhaupt, p. 45. 106 Calendaria Caroli IX, ed. Lewenhaupt, p. 104.
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