the swedish court and appeal system Although the first level of jurisdiction in criminal cases were the land courts, there was also a number of exceptions when the High Court was in fact the court of first instance. Article 20 of the High Court statute (in German: Hofgerichtsordung23) listed the kinds of crimes that were to be handled in the High Court as the court of first instance: laesio maiestatis, abuse of office, misdemeanors against customs officials on duty, duels between nobles. The High Court was, however, not expected to conduct a criminal investigation and to collect primary evidence. This was do be done by lower courts which had to forward all collected evidence and materials to the High Court, together with the suspect or the defendant. In practice, a similar system was in place also in the case of crimes not mentioned inHofgerichtsordnung § 20. Also in this case, the lower court investigated and collected evidence and the High Court made the final decision. The only difference between the crimes listed in Hofgerichtsordnung§ 20 and the others was that, in the case of latter, the lower court presented to the High Court its own proposal concerning what decision should be made. These proposals, however, were in no way binding to the High Court, which could make an entirely different decision from the one proposed. Therefore, it has been claimed that there was no difference between criminal cases handled by the High Court or the land courts,24 as the High Court always retained the right to rule independently from the latter. In other words, the Livonian High Court was not primarly an appellation court, but rather a court of first instance. This role was much more extensive than just a forum privilegiatum for cases involving nobles.25 Its competence as the court of first instance also included all cases involving churches, schools and other pious establishments. It should also be mentioned that in both civil and criminal cases, the king could order every specific case to be investigated rather by theHofgericht as the court of first instance. 23 Königliche Hofgerichtsordnung für Livland. 6.9.1632. In: Buddenbrock, Gustav Johann von (ed.) 1821 pp. 27-63. 24 Bock, Woldemar von 1845 pp. 13-14, 18-19. 25 About the parallel function of Svea High Court for the Swedish nobles, see: Trolle Önnerfors, Elsa 2014passim. 222
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=