Author : Toomas Kotkas
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004258957
Total Pages : 247 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (42 download)
Book Synopsis Royal Police Ordinances in Early Modern Sweden by : Toomas Kotkas
Download or read book Royal Police Ordinances in Early Modern Sweden written by Toomas Kotkas and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2013-10-02 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Royal Police Ordinances in Early Modern Sweden offers a comprehensive account of the legal regulation of 16th- and 17th-century Swedish society. In comparison to present-day usage, during the early modern period the term ‘police’ had a broader meaning. It referred to ‘good societal order’ covering a variety of areas of societal life such as public finances, commerce, professions, infrastructure, public health and poor relief, public morality, public security, and so on. Through an analysis of a large body of ordinances Toomas Kotkas claims that in 17th-century Sweden a new, voluntaristic understanding of law emerged. Royal police ordinances were no longer perceived merely as a means of enforcing older medieval law but instead as an instrument of directing society towards aspired-to goals.