User:SvareJM/Sandbox/Se Court Records

This article combines content from the following pages: Sweden Court Records, Sweden Judicial Jurisdictions, Sweden Crime and Punishment, and Swedish Tingplats and is intended to replace the Sweden Court Records article.

Introduction
Courts were responsible for trying criminal and civil cases, and also for recording property transactions, probating estates, and registering death lists that were sent in by the parishes. There is often a wealth of supporting documents for the cases. It is generally believed that most of the population can be found in the court records for one reason or another. But to search the court records, you have to know what judicial jurisdiction that your ancestor lived in. This article will help you identify the right court jurisdiction level and the associated records for your search. Judicial districts changed over time.

History
The earliest courts were outdoors at a designated location called tingplats or tingsställe. Prior to the arrival of Christianity, it is believed that the tingplats was often a place where sacrifices were offered. After Christianity arrived many tingplats were associated with the location of a church. Later, before the practice of building a dedicated court, the ting session was held in a house where the church wardens and parishioners could meet (sockenstuga) or in a government inn (gästgivarigård).

Jurisdictions
The 1634 constitution identified 14 lagsagor which were medieval judicial districts led by a häradshövding (district chief). These districts were divided into smaller historical districts (härader), although some parts of the country used the name tingslag, bergslag, or skeppslag instead. Each härad or lag had a place of judgement to try criminal offenses and civil disputes. When Gustav Vasa became king in 1523 it marked the beginning of the modern kingdom of Sweden. Prior to this it was a group of provinces (landskap) controlled to a large extant by families with strong political and military ties (Folkungar families) with an elected king to represent the groups in general. To strengthen the government’s position, cities were formed and were given special rights, including the establishment of city courts.

The häradsrätt (in rural areas) and the rådhusrätt (in the cities) were the first and most common level of jurisdiction to settle criminal offenses and civil disputes. If someone wanted to appeal a lower court’s decision, they had to appeal to the Monarchy and Council of the Realm before 1614, or to the High Court (Hovrätt) after 1614. The 1634 constitution organized the kingdom into counties (län) and the judicial authority was transferred from each province to the respective county authorities.

1634 - early 1900s
The chart below represents the organizational structure of the judicial system from 1634 up to the beginning of the 1900’s. Cases could potentially be heard in three courts:
 * 1) District (häradsrätt) or city courts (rådhusrätt or magistrat) - which are courts of first instance until 1971 when they were replaced by the tingsrätt
 * 2) Appelate courts (hovrätt)
 * 3) Supreme Court - Kunglig Majestät i Riksrådet to 1789, and Högsta domstolen after 1789

See the table for English definitions and links for information about the records associated to each jurisdiction. [[Media:Swedish Judicial Jurisdictions mid 1600s-early 1900s.pdf|Download a copy of this chart]].



Records
There are many records that were created by the Swedish court system that may help you find your ancestors. These records are especially useful when the church records are insufficient. As you search court records you will find the span of years varies record to record. This is due to laws, social development, the purpose of the record, and the preservation of the originals. Some records have different names in different parts of the country. Other records were created in duplicate. For example, the content of a häradsrätt court proceeding (dombok) was copied to another book (renoverade dombok) which was sent to the High Regional Appellate Courts. You will find the level of detail will vary depending on the version.