Ebook: Conquest and the Law in Swedish Livonia (ca. 1630-1710): A Case of Legal Pluralism in Early Modern Europe

In 'Conquest and the Law' in Swedish Livonia (ca. 1630-1710), Heikki Pihlajamäki offers an exciting account of the law in seventeenth-century Livonia, conquered by Sweden. The volume demonstrates how the differences in legal cultures affected the Livonian judiciary and legal procedure in the region.

This book has been long coming. The initial work was a project to examine the archives of the Livonian High Court (Sw. 'hovrätt'), one of the oldest high courts established in the Swedish realm in the seventeenth century. It soon became evident, however, that the functions of the High Court could not be understood without setting them in a larger context – that of the entire new judiciary which was emerging after Sweden had conquered Livonia. As is so often the case in scholarship, the end product looks rather different to that which had been envisaged at the outset.