Sweden Court Records

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Online Resources

• Nationell ArkivDatabas (NAD) - Swedish National Archives
• ArkivDigital - color images of Swedish court records
• 1770-1861 Rättsprotokoll, 1770-1861(*); Göta Hovrätt at FamilySearch Catalog - images

Offices to Contact

Many records which are not currently in use by the court have been transferred to National or Regional Archives facilities. See Sweden Archives and Libraries for information on how to identify the correct archive and access the records.

Background

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.

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).

Court Types

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. Download a copy of this chart.

Administration Levels	Definition
Kunglig Majestät i Riksrådet	The Council of the Realm and the Monarchy up to 1789
Högsta domstolen	The Supreme Court after 1789
Nedre justitierevisionen	Before cases could be presented to a higher court, the case and its documents had to be evaluated and prepared. This office accomplished that.
Hovrätter	High Regional Appellate Courts beginning in 1614. There are six hovrätter: Svea hovrätt in Stockholm, founded in 1614 with Svealand and Norrland as its area of jurisdiction. Its archive is kept at the National Archives (Riksarkivet). Göta hovrätt in Jönköping, founded in 1643 by division of Svea hovrätt with Götaland as its area of jurisdiction. Keeps its own archive. Hovrätten over Skåne och Blekinge with Malmö, founded in 1820 by division of Göta hovrätt with the provinces of Skåne and Blekinge as its area of jurisdiction. Its archive is kept at Lunds landsarkiv. Hovrätten for Övre Nordland in Umeå, founded in 1936 by division of Svea hovrätt with the counties of Norrrbotten and Västernorrland as its area of jurisdiction. Keeps its own archive. Hovrätten for Nedre Norrland in Sundsvall, founded in 1948 by division of Svea hovrätt with the counties of Jämtland and Västernorrland as its area of jurisdiction. Keeps its own archive. Hovrätten for Västra Sverige in Göteborg, founded in 1948 by division of Göta hovrätten with the counties of Göteborg och Bohus, Halland, Älvsborg as its area of jurisdiction. Keeps its own archive.
Rådhusrätter and magistrater	City and magistrate courts. The city court is also known as rådstufvurätten/rådstuvurätten. Prior to These were courts of second instance (appellate).
Kämnärsrätter	The cities had a special lower court called kämnarsrätt that were founded in 1619 as the courts of first instance to handle all small and minor cases. The kämnarsrätt was abolished in 1849 when its cases were transferred to the rådhusrätt.
Lagmansrätter	A court jurisdiction dating back to the medieval lagsaga, generally for an entire Landskap. After 1614 it became a first appellate court for civil and minor criminal cases. Serious criminal cases were appealed directly to the Hovrätt. Eventually most cases bypassed the lagmansrätt and the court jurisdiction was disbanded in 1849.
Häradsrätter	The häradsrätt was the first level of court for civil and criminal cases from medieval times up to 1970 when it was replaced by the tingsrätter. The area the jurisdiction covered was called a tingslag. The courts head was the häradshövding, who could also be over a domsaga with jurisdiction over multiple härads. The häradsrätten included twelve men called nämndemän or tolvmän. The häradsrätt was also responsible to oversee taxation. In 1971 the name of the härads- and rådhusrätten were changed to tingsrätt. There are about 100 tingsrätter in Sweden today. The archives of these courts are located at the respective landsarkiv, with the most recent records still in the custody of the respective tingsrätt.

Record Types

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) copied to another book (renoverade dombok) which was sent to the High Regional Appellate Courts.

This table identifies the different records frequently used in genealogical research. The Swedish name of the record is given in the Name of Record column, the court responsible for creating the record is identified in the Jurisdiction column, and information about the record is given in the Record Description column.

Name of Record	Jurisdiction	Record Description
Bouppteckningar	Rural: Häradsrätt or Tingslag Cities: Rådhusrätt and magistrat	Probates, estate inventories after a person has died.
Domböcker	Rural: Häradsrätt or Tingslag Cities: Rådhusrätt and magistrat	The minutes, or proceedings of the criminal and civil cases handled by a court. Originally the proceedings for all cases and matters that were handled by the court were recorded into one book. Eventually separate books were used for the different types of cases. Also include wills, marriage settlements, dowry contracts, contested probates, mortgage records, survey records of property, guardian accounts, applications for court positions, and so forth. These provide names of individuals, dates of marriage and death, relationships, residences, and other personal information.
Dödlistor	Rural: Häradsrätt or Tingslag Cities: Rådhusrätt and magistrat	Lists of people who died within a parish that were sent to the häradshövdingen, or tingsrätt.
Förmyndarskapsböcker	Rural: Häradsrätt or Tingslag Cities: Rådhusrätt and magistrat	Record of legal guardian appointments
Förmyndarskapshandlingar	Rural: Häradsrätt or Tingslag Cities: Rådhusrätt and magistrat	Guardianship records
Inneliggande handlingar	Rural: Häradsrätt or Tingslag Cities: Rådhusrätt and magistrat	Supplement or appendix to the domböcker. Can include power of attorney, mantalslängder, petitions, flyttningsattest, födelseattest, lists of deceased, lists of witnesses, and other supporting documents.
Konkursakter	Rural: Häradsrätt or Tingslag Cities: Rådhusrätt and magistrat	Documents relating to bankruptcy proceedings
Konkursdiarier	Rural: Häradsrätt or Tingslag Cities: Rådhusrätt and magistrat	List of documents pertaining to bankruptcy proceedings
Renoverade domböcker	Hovrätt	Duplicate copies of the domböcker sent in from the local courts
Saköreslängder	Rural: Häradsrätt or Tingslag Cities: Rådhusrätt and magistrat	Record of people who have been fined. Often found in the domböcker.
Småprotokoller or Inteckningsprotokoll	Rural: Häradsrätt or Tingslag Cities: Rådhusrätt and magistrat	These records include many contractual matters such as: the transfer of real estate, loans for real estate, premarital settlements, morgongåva agreements, the appointment of guardians, and even some wills and probates.
Stämningslistor	Rural: Häradsrätt or Tingslag Cities: Rådhusrätt and magistrat	List of people who were summoned to the ting

Bibliography

Asker, Björn, Hur riket styrdes, Förvaltning , politik och arkiv 1520–1920. Stockholm : Edita, 2007. For further reading see chapter 7, "Domstolarna och fångvården".
Clemmensson, Per & Kjell Andersson. Släktforska Steg för Steg. Falköping : Natur och Kultur, 2005. FamilySearch Library book 948.5 D27c 2005
Clemmensson, Per & Kjell Andersson. Släktforska vidare. Falköping : Natur och Kultur/LTs förlag, 2003. FamilySearch Library book 948.5 D27cpe