the svea court of appeal in the early modern period 84 is modest for the first year. Admittedly, there had been some accumulating backlog of civil litigation before the king and the royal council that had been assigned to the Svea Court of Appeal after its establishment. However, these are not included in current figures. One can only presume that Swedes progressively learned to use the court and that the number of cases increased over the years. This finding is also supported by the fact that during its first year, the Court of Appeal gave judgement in four lawfully wagered or appealed (lagwadde) cases. All of these came from town courts (three from Stockholm/Norrmalm, and one from Västerås).224 How quickly an appealed case came from the Stockholm Town Court to the Court of Appeal varied. A commercial case determined by the mayor and town councillors on 31 August 1614 appeared at the court a couple months later, on 19 October.225 However, it seems that even in Stockholm it could take some time before the appeal of a wagered case was taken up at the Court of Appeal. In a case of slander in Stockholm, the dissatisfied plaintiff had appealed to the Svea Court on 12 November 1614, but according to the Janus Regius diary, the suit was only presented in the appeals court in September 1615.226 Obviously, the paying of the bet did not mean that the appellant was obliged to pursue the appeal immediately in the next law term. In certain cases, the delay was caused by the lower court. Olof Larsson had appealed the sentence of the Town Court of Arboga and placed his required bet (Wadhpenninger). But as the Arboga court had failed to provide the appellant with the sentence in writing, Olof had been unable to pursue his appeal in Stockholm. The Court of Appeal ordered the mayor and town council of Arboga to produce a letter with the verdict, all the circumstances of the case and the seal of the town immediately. They were also to compensate Olof Larsson for the travel costs to the Court of Appeal.227 Thus, based on this information, it seems fair to assert that of all the types of justice-related affairs the Court dealt with in its first year, acting as an appellate court was less significant than may have been expected. 224 RA, SHA, A I a 1:1, fols. 82r, 222v, 223r, 224r. 225 31 Aug. 1614, Stockholms stads ochNorrmalm stads tänkeböcker från år 1592, VIII, ed. Staf, pp. 38-39; RA, SHA, A I a 1:1, fol. 223r: “Den 19. Octob. blef een Laghwadd saak ifrån Stocholms Rådhstugu, Humfridh Streitt vs. Jacob Ballije and Lourentz Schröder.” 226 12 Nov. 1614, Stockholms stads och Norrmalm stads tänkeböcker från år 1592, VIII (1614– 1615), ed. Staf, p. 50; Janus Regius diary, RA, SHA, D I:1. 227 RA, SHA, B I a 1, 3 Nov. 1614, fol. 60r.
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