A3 Vertaisarvioitu kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa

Testamentary Freedom in Law and Practice in Medieval Sweden: Conflicts and Coexistence




TekijätMia Korpiola

ToimittajaMaria Gigliola di Renzo Villata

KustannuspaikkaCham

Julkaisuvuosi2018

Kokoomateoksen nimiSuccession Law, Practice and Society in Europe across the Centuries

Sarjan nimiStudies in the History of Law and Justice

Numero sarjassa14

Vuosikerta14

Aloitussivu149

Lopetussivu165

Sivujen määrä17

ISBN978-3-319-76257-9

eISBN978-3-319-76258-6

ISSN2198-9842

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76258-6_5


Tiivistelmä

The chapter discusses the limits of testamentary freedom in medieval Swedish law. Last wills, testaments and donations for pious causes were introduced in Sweden in the twelfth century. Some thirteenth-century papal decretals indicate that according to Swedish law, the consent of relatives was required to valid deathbed donations. This was condemned as a “perverse custom” by the popes, advocating testamentary freedom. However, both these decretals and the Swedish thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century provincial laws provide evidence of the tensions between ecclesiastical authorities and Swedish lay society. The provincial laws limited testamentary freedom regarding various aspects: requiring the consent of the heirs, the timing of the bequest (deathbed/sickbed or health), the proportion of the donation vis-à-vis the whole property of the donor, and type of property (immovables, inherited or acquired land). With the free assent of one’s closest heirs, all and any restrictions of testamentary freedom could be overcome. In legal practice, donators often sought to ensure the consent of their heirs in advance. They used them as witnesses and signatories, they used redemption clauses or bought off relatives with claims to the property. Acquiring the consent of heirs to wills and donations of land became customary practice in later medieval Sweden.



Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 10:43