258 Summary Swedish Ecclesiastical Law in the Seventeenth Century BY PROFESSOR MARTTI PARVIO The Reformation of the Church of Sweden signified juridically that the Kingof Sweden assumed the position of the Pope. The King became a spiritual judge {ordinarius iudex) to whom the bishops swore an oath {iuramentumepiscopate) and expressed obedience and fidelity. The bishops still maintained jurisdiction in their own dioceses. The new national state of Sweden was being built, and through uniform liturgical renewal and the annulment of medieval diocesan particularism, the ecclesiastical organization served this purpose. The juridical basis was formed by the consequent realization of thought concerning the three Lutheran estates. The political, ecclesiastical, and household estates together comprised the unified Swedish spiritual culture whose content was taught from the Household Instruction {hustavla) of Luther’s little catechism. This instruction was fulfilled by the ecclesiastical discipline. This is apparent from the capitular Constitutiones of the new type. For example, according to the Consitutiones of the Turku (Finland) chapter the purpose of the ecclesiastical discipline was that societas quasi frenis continetur et exercetur. To the ministry of the bishops belonged potestas ecclesiastica externa et interna under the supervision of the authorities. It is also possible to observe ecclesiastical, juridical thought in the field of common Swedish legislation. The general rubric, the Lawof God and Sweden {Guds och Sveriges lag), was also used. As an official termit was adopted into Swedish law in 1734 but was of much earlier origin. Theterm, God’s law, did not refer to the old ecclesiastical section of the Swedish law(kyrkohalk) which was still in effect, but rather was evidently a reference to Mosaic law and especially theDecalogue (TheTen Commandments) whichwere included in Luther’s little catechism and which also in the formof a gradual belonged to the Swedish and Finnishmasses. TheTen Commandmentswerealso taken intothe hymnals. The Decalogue was officially incorporated into 1634’s constitution in which Lut-
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