Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Introduction - Pages ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Thing, presided over by a Lagman, and each hundred had its
Härathsthing, whose president was called a Domar (‘pronouncer
of dooms’) or Härathshöfthing. The Landsthing exercised
deliberative and judicial functions, and each had its own code of laws.
Precedence among these diets was enjoyed by the Svea Thing or
that of Upper Sweden, at which, although the monarchy was
nominally hereditary, kings were first elected. After his election
each new king had to swear to observe the laws, and to proceed
on the ‘Eriksgata’, or a journey to the other diets, in order to
procure confirmation of his title. Resolutions of the Svea Thing
were even binding on the king himself. As the provincial laws
differed, attempts to codify them were made in the 13th and at
the beginning of the 14th cent., but with the consolidation of
the kingdom these differences were gradually obliterated. The
chief difference between Sweden and Norway was the
preponderance of the aristocratic element in the former. From an early
period, moreover, it had been usual to hold diets composed of the
higher officials, the barons, prelates, and large landed proprietors,
and to these after the close of the 13th cent, were added the
Lagmenn. This aristocratic diet was farther enlarged by Magnus
Ladulås (1280), who admitted to it all knights willing to serve
him in the field, according to them the same exemption from
taxation as that enjoyed by his courtiers and by the clergy. As
no one, however, in accordance with a law of 1285, could attend
these diets without a summons from the king himself, he retained
the real power in his own hands and reserved a right to alter the
laws with the advice of the diet. From an early period the
Lagman and the Häratlishöfthing had been the sole judges in lawsuits,
and from the first half of the 14th cent, downwards they were
proposed by the people, but appointed by the king. At the same
time the king possessed a right of reviewing all judgments in the
last instance. No taxes could be exacted or troops levied without
the consent of the popular diets, and it therefore became
customary as early as the 13th cent, for the kings to employ
mercenary-troops. — The privileges of the church were well defined, but
less extensive than in Norway. The payment of tithes was
compulsory, and in 1248 and 1250 the right to elect bishops was
vested in the chapters, while all the clergy were prohibited from
taking oaths of secular allegiance. At the same period the celibacy
of the clergy was declared compulsory. As early as 1200 the
clergy was declared amenable to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction
only, and in some cases the church-courts could even summon
laymen before them. On the other hand the supreme legislative
power in church matters still belonged to the state, and parishes
enjoyed the right of electing their pastor when no express right of
patronage existed. — In the latter half of the 13th cent, the
dignity of .lari or carl was abolished, and the Tiro4tnrIe(‘high steward’),
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
