danish courts of appeal are geographically skewed, for there were substantially more appeals from the courts near Copenhagen, i.e. it is possible to say that it was more likely for a decision to be appealed the closer the decision was made to Copenhagen.36 The court was increasingly located in Copenhagen, often in the castle, and this played a role for those who considered to appeal. This principle of proximity can also be seen in the small number of thirdinstance cases, i.e. a case that had gone from a peculiar, local or town court to the provincial court and from thence on to the Royal Court. The relatively small number of such cases indicates that the Royal Court mutatis mutandis did not play a significant role locally, especially not outside Zealand: If a case was not appealed, the local community was not informed about the activities and decisions of the court, not even in cases that had immediate significance for the local community. This was a trait that was probably even more pronounced in the Middle Ages. On the other hand, we can say that if a case was appealed the sentencing judge – in two-thirds of the cases the judge of the provincial court – was summoned before the Royal Court and in connection with this he was given the opportunity to gain knowledge of the sentences passed and possibly collect them together in his private collection of sentences; such private collections are known from the end of the fourteenth century, and it seems to have been a common way of proceeding because where it is possible to identify the owner of such a collection they are either a royal official of the province or a judge.37 In some cases, however, the king let it be known that a royal sentence was to be published so that in future no one would be disadvantaged by a lack of knowledge of the law. One of the ways in which it was possible to become acquainted with the decisions and activities of the Royal Court, locally or regionally, was to attend the meetings of the court when it set out into the realm to meet the inhabitants and to deal with the legal disputes where they occurred. However, it was rare that the court travelled the country, both in the Middle Ages and – especially – later. Jutland saw extended periods 36 Tamm, Ditlev – Johansen, Jens Chr. V. 1992 p. 74; Johansen, Jens Chr. V. 2001 p. 559. 37 Tamm, Ditlev – Johansen, Jens Chr. V. 1992 p. 81. 262
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