a safe haven in the shadow of war? – mia korpiola 65 However, the documents establishing the Court do not indicate how the new court got all its first cases. In some cases, the parties had probably approached the King for his decision, and he had delegated the matter to the new court. At least, this is what happened when GustavII Adolf crossed over to Finland. From Helsinki, he delegated the dispute between Johan Pontusson De la Gardie (1582 – 1640), Governor of Turku Castle, and some burghers of Turku. This suit involved a tenement in Turku that De la Gardie claimed as his maternal inheritance. The local town court had decided over the case, but as neither party was happy with the verdict, they wanted the King and the Council of the Realm to resolve it. Gustav II Adolf referred the case to the Court of Appeal as such disputed cases were their responsibility.154 Nevertheless, some of the cases had been wagered from lower courts. At least the contract dispute about debt collection between Jöns Eskilsson and Bertil Farenheide to the disadvantage of the latter had been resolved by the Stockholm town court on 17 February 1613. Farenheide immediately declared that he was not satisfied with the decision and laid down the bet of his wager, his “appelations penninger,” within eight days. “Thereby, he appealed under the noble and well-born Lords’, Councillors of the Realm, for [their] highly judicious consideration.”155 Thus, about a year before the Court of Appeal was established, the case had been appealed to the Council of the Realm which obviously referred the case to the new court that was discussed and planned in the autumn of 1613. As the court records of the Stockholm town court from the autumn 1613 are lost, one cannot know whether other cases were also referred to the new court. The register of outgoing letters of the first session of the Court of Appeal’s contains 68 entries of very varying kinds. Some are only remotely related to trials or even the administration of justice, such as the letter to the burghers of Hudiksvall (Hudwichzwaldh) requiring that they follow the orders of the king and build a school in the town on pain of punishment,156 or the intercession on behalf of the priest Lars Nicolai of Biörskogh of the 154 RA, SHA, E I:1a 1b, King GustavII Adolf to the Svea Court of Appeal, fols. 63r-63v: “Så aldenstund sådane twistige saker bör af eder samtligen, somRätten bekläda, blifwa åtskilde; därföre wele wij hafwa eder samma sak wåldgifwen, och hwad J där utinnan giörandes eller dömandes warde.” 155 17 February 1613, STb från år 1592, VII, ed. Staf, p. 238: “där medh han appeleradhe vnder the edle och wälborne herrers ricksens rådhz högwijse betänckiande.” 156 RA, SHA, B I a:1, 10 June 1614, fols. 10r-10v.
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