per andersen The justitiar was not the only high-level office-holder with such sentencing competences, since from time to time it was emphasised that the chancellor was not to use “the great seal”, i.e. the king’s seal, in cases where he was a party, and this may indicate that the chancellor, in some cases, functioned as a judge or a member of a panel of judges in cases of property where he had no interest. This is perhaps not surprising because, during the reign of King Valdemar IV, the chancellor of the realm was usually a member of the gentry of Zealand who was most likely paid in land rather than a salary. However, later, during the reign of Eric of Pomerania when the Council of the Realm seriously entered powerpolitics, the chancellor was usually appointed from among the group of members of the Council.41 This also meant that the position of justitiar, which was originally subordinate to the king’s chancellor, became equal to the chancellor during the fifteenth century so that thejustitiar(or more correctly therettertingskansler, ‘the chancellor of the king’s court’, as he is called in some sources) could function as a replacement for the chancellor in the conduct of the business of the royal chancellery.42 It is worth mentioning that the members of the council, from among whom thejustitiar was recruited in the fifteenth century, as a rule did not have a legal education, but only joined the Council of the Realm and the king’s court/the Royal Court because of the manors and land that they owned, which meant that they were some of the most prosperous and therefore most influential political figures of the realm. Because of this, the fifteen to twenty people who made up the Council of the Realm were expected to have a certain amount of experience of government and decision-making.43 The king could not summon his subjects to the Royal Court if the subject’s case was being treated at one of the lesser courts or if the sentence from a lower court was not yet final or described, i.e. taken down on paper. Initially, these rules were introduced as a protection against 41 Lerdam, Henrik 2001 pp. 23-31. 42 Lerdam, Henrik 2001 pp. 31-35. 43 Tamm, Ditlev – Johansen, Jens Chr. V. 1992 pp. 77-78. 265
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