Land law (Sweden)

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Magnus Erikssons Landrecht ( Magnus Erikssons landslag ) is Sweden's first set of laws that was valid throughout the empire. It came into force in the 1350s, was revised in 1442 under King Christoph of Bavaria ( Kristoffers landslag ) and only replaced by the Rikslagsbok Imperial Code in 1736 . The land law, which applied to the non-urban area, was supplemented at the same time by an encompassing city ​​law ( Magnus Erikssons stadslag ).

Facsimile of a copy of the land law from the middle of the 15th century

Before the 14th century, the individual parts of the empire had their own state laws and the cities also issued their own city ordinances. In the context of the unification of the empire and the establishment of a central royal power, uniform legislation also became more important. Therefore, King Magnus Eriksson commissioned a law commission to develop uniform land law for Sweden. The basis for the new land law was mainly the state laws of Upplands , Västmanland and Östergötland, as well as a number of statutes that Magnus Eriksson had issued between 1335 and 1345. However, no agreement could be found with the church about their legal position in the new land law, so that the land law did not contain a section on the church ( kyrkobalken ), but that the legal provisions of the individual state laws in the respective regions continued to apply .

The land law was completed in the early 1350s years and quite rapidly from Dalarna , the countries at Mälaren , Östergötland and Småland accepted. Närke and Finland did not follow until the 1370s, Västergötland and Värmland in the 1390s and Norrland only at the end of the century.

In 1442 a revised version was issued by King Christoph of Bavaria, but it was not until 1608 that the old land law was completely replaced by the revised version. Both laws were used in the 15th and 16th centuries.