sören koch legal conflicts became gradually more complicated. In this situation the importance of values like legal certainty and predictability was emphasized. This had an impact especially on expectations regarding the degree of professionalization of judges as well as the effectiveness and the institutionalization of legal procedures. At the same time, these expectations contributed to define the role of the courts of appeal in the early modern period. However, practical considerations based on daily experience such as the long distances, the difficulties of communication and traveling, as well as the need for a central juridical institution on the district level, have also to be taken into account when further analyzing the history of the Norwegian court system. Turning our attention to early modern times we have to recall that the lawman was not yet exclusively associated with the regional courts; neither was the district court a real court of appeal.23 The legal system was still vertical, not hierarchical. A claimant could in principle still choose freely where to press charges, either before the local assemblies, the regional courts or the king directly.24 Furthermore, there was still a great variety of arbitration-like mechanisms of conflict resolution on the different local and regional levels in addition to the assembly-courts.25 Indeed, the procedure before the ting-assemblies has, in the eyes of a modern lawyer, at times more in common with mediation than with conflict resolution dictated by an authority with a monopoly over decisionmaking, which has become characteristic of modern legal systems.26 Finally the legal skills of the judges on the different levels in the judiciary varied quite drastically.27 While the local courts were best suited to han23 Nissen, Gunnar 1956 p. 35; Sunde, Jørn Øyrehagen 2010b p. 83 ff. and p. 197. 24 Cf. Code of the Norwegian Realm, I 1-6. 25 Sunde, Jørn Øyrehagen 2014b p. 145 f., and 151 ff. 26 On that in more detail Koch, Sören 2015. 27 A very good overview over the degree of professionalization and the education the lawmen had received gives Næss, Hans Eyvind 2014 p. 119 ff. 287 Development of a hierarchical legal system – the lawman as appeal court judge
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