courts of appeal in norway tury extending to all major crimes demanding the death penalty.91 This provision contained aduty on appeal all the way up to the Supreme Court in Copenhagen. As the judges in the Overhoffrett were lacking specific judicial knowledge and experience, at least compared to the appellate court judges, they would, as a rule, just briefly confirm the result the court of appeal came up with. This led to a relatively efficient procedure often not taking more than a couple of months. In other words, with regard to criminal cases the Overhoffrett in most cases was not functioning as areal court of appeal by controlling the inferior instances and securing legal unity. Somewhat different was the situation regarding cases with commercial background. The magistrates of the bigger towns like Bergen had the right to send complicated commercial cases directly to the Overhoffrett and used this privilege frequently.92 The reason for this was that some of the judges in the Overhoffrett even though lacking judicial training, were experienced merchants.93 However, given the great distances involved over which Norwegian jurisdiction was exercised, the difficulties in establishing communication and the existence of a law that nevertheless demanded oral proceedings and personal attendance, it is not surprising that the legal system did not work efficiently. As a consequence of the inefficiency of the traditional legal order a lot of conflicts were resolved outside the ordinary court system. The parties had still the opportunity to solve their conflicts by means of other (extra91 Norwegian Code 1-22-53. This provision has its origin in the Recess of Kalundborg 1576 § 8. The applicability of the provision was eventually expanded, first in an regulation from 1719 and once again in the above mentioned regulation from 1735. 92 Aubert, L.M. B., Den norske Privatrets almindelige Del, De norske Retskilder og deres Anvendelse, [Norwegain Private Law vol 1.: The Norwegian sources of law and their application]; Christiania 1877 p. 75. 93 This is paragraph is mainly inspired by a lecture held by Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde with the title «Overhoffretten som appelldomstol i dølgsmålssaker 1700-1796», hold at the Norwegian Historians Meeting (Norsk Historiskerdag) in Trondheim 24th June 2017. 302 “Lost and found” – the collapse of the traditional appellate system and its rebirth
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