a safe haven in the shadow of war? – mia korpiola 81 The first entry in the register of the newly established Svea Court of Appeal was dated Stockholm, 24 May 1614,211 a direction to the above-mentioned noble Erik Tönnesson to appear in court a week later, on 30 May, to answer the summons of his step-mother, the noble Elin Johansdotter [Måneskiöld] (d. 1639~1641) about her morning gift property. The division of the property and inheritance between her and her late husband Tönne Eriksson [Tott] (d. 1608), Erik Tönnesson’s father, had been unsettled ever since 1609. Various disputes regarding the estate of Tönne Eriksson and its divisionwere to keep the Court of Appeal busy during the next fifteen years.212 As the case was a land dispute between noble Swedish parties revolving around inheritance and morning gifts, it was one of the typical types of litigation dealt with by the Court of Appeal.213 But can we say that cases like this formed the majority of the daily business of the Svea Court of Appeal during its first year? Do they reflect the main reason behind its establishment? As a general increase in litigiousness has been seen by some researchers as explaining the legal or judicial revolution,214 how many civil cases were initiated in the early years of the Svea Court of Appeal and what part of the total business of the Court do they represent? Does early seventeenth-century Swedish society seem particularly litigious in the light of these records and can it explain why it was deemed necessary to establish the court? The Janus Regius (Ianus Regius sive Manuale Causarum Civilium) is the diary of the litigation of the Svea Court of Appeal in the seventeenth century. It is of a huge atlas folio size, and is basically an alphabetic register215 of all the civil causes initiated at the court between 1614 and 1705, arranged according to the first name of the plaintiff. However, despite its 211 RA, SHA, B I a 1, 24 May 1614, p. 2: “Citation till Erich Thönnesson på Skäbbo, att swara sin Stiufmodher Frw Elin på Bärga, omArfueskipte dem emillan giordt är här till rätta etc./ Datum Stokholm den 24 Maÿ 1614.” 212 Almquist, Jan Eric 1939-1940 pp. 1-22; Korpiola, Mia 2007 pp. 153-179. 213 See, e.g., Anu Lahtinen’s article in this volume and Afzelius, Ivar 1914 p. 177. 214 E.g., Kagan, Henry L. 1981 pp. 4-20. 215 Some widows were entered in the diary under their deceased husband’s name, e.g., “Jacob Botneborghs efterleffwerske,” RA, SHA, D I:1 [unpaginated]. Litigation at the Svea Court of Appeal: Statistical Data of Cases Initiated and Sentences in the Janus Regius Diary 1614 – 1617
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