the swedish court and appeal system used in Livonian courts14 as well as the particular problems and institutes of procedural law.15 His overview of the languages used in seventeenth century Livonian courts16 lies slightly outside of the present topic. However, his thorough analysis of the question of whether the 1632 Livonian High Court, and everything happening there, can be considered to have been a transplant of the Svea High Court,17 is closely related to the theme of the present collection of articles. In any event, the works mentioned here, especially those by Pihlajamäki, make it possible for me to content myself with only a few shorter remarks or additions to the topic of the Swedish-era court system in Livonia. In the following, I will focus on the question of what exactly can be considered to have been the Swedish heritage in the areas of court system and procedure that Livonia had at its disposal when it was incorporated into the Russian Empire in the beginning of the 18th century. The land courts (in German: Landgericht) as general courts for the Livonian nobility and the rest of the personally free rural population had been established already during the Polish rule (1561-1629). The main merits of Skytte’s reformwere that it gave the land courts a clear normative base in written court regulations,18 and established a hierarchy of courts by in14 Pihlajamäki, Heikki 2013 passim. 15 E. g. about the restoration of the procedure: Pihlajamäki, Heikki 2007bpassim. 16 Pihlajamäki, Heikki 2008passim. 17 Pihlajamäki, Heikki 2014passim. 18 The activities of the land courts in Livonia were regulated even before the High Court was established, since there were many disputes that needed to be resolved in the land ruined by war. Governor-general Johan Skytte, appointed in 1629, was immediately flooded with an enormous amount of petitions and complaints. For this reason, a temporary court regulation was issued in 1630 for lower courts: Ordinanz, wie es bey den Untergerichten primae instantiae (in erster Behörde) der vier rigischen Kreysen(Kreise) soll gehalten werden. Actum(Gemacht) zu Riga, den 20. May Anno 1630. In: Buddenbrock, Gustav Johann von (ed.) 1821 pp. 13-26. After the High Court had been established, it was revised with some additions made, and issued again as the so-called revised land court regulation in 1632: (Verbesserte) Ordinanz, so Anno 1632 den 1. Februar publiciret (bekannt gemacht ist), (und) wornach die Herren Land-Richter sich zu halten: (und) wie es in den Gerichten primae instantiae (erster Instanz) 220 The Swedish Court and Appeal System during the end of the Swedish Rule in Livonia
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