The Civil Code of 1734 ( Swedish: ''1734 års lag''), was a

code of law A code of law, also called a law code or legal code, is a systematic collection of statutes. It is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the co ...

passed by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates in 1734, and put in effect after it had been ratified by

Frederick I of Sweden Frederick I (; 28 April 1676 – 5 April 1751) was List of Swedish monarchs, King of Sweden from 1720 until his death, having been prince consort of Sweden from 1718 to 1720, and was also Landgrave of Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Kassel fr ...

23 January 1736. It became the foundation of the later

civil code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property law, property, family law, family, and law of obligations, obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdiction ...

in Sweden – and remained so in Finland when annexed by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

in 1809; though many alterations have been made in both Sweden and Finland since. The current

Swedish Code of Statutes The Swedish Code of Statutes (, Swedish law collection; SFS) contains the chronological session laws of the Riksdag, regulations of the Government, and ordinances, collectively called . SFS numbers Every document has an SFS number, including le ...

is founded on the civil code of 1734.

Context

The Civil Code of 1734 replaced the previous ''

Kristofers landslag ''Kristofers landslag'' ('The Country Law of Christopher') was a code of law passed under Christopher of Bavaria as king of Sweden in 1442. It was an amended version of the original national law, the ''Magnus Erikssons landslag'' from circa 1350 ...

'' ('The National Law of Christopher') passed by King Christopher of Bavaria in 1442, and the ''

Stadslagen The ''Stadslagen'' ('City Law'), was a Swedish code of law passed by King Magnus Eriksson in circa 1350. It governed the life in the cities of Sweden until 1734. The ''Stadslagen'' was passed in about the same time as the ''Magnus Erikssons land ...

'' ('The City Law') from 1347–57. It was the first civil code to apply the same law to all of Sweden. Previously, the ''Kristofers landslag'' referred to the

Medieval Scandinavian law Medieval Scandinavian law, also called North Germanic law, was a subset of Germanic law practiced by North Germanic peoples. It was originally memorized by lawspeakers, but after the end of the Viking Age they were committed to writing, mostly by M ...

concerning the countryside, which could vary depending on the county, or the ''Stadslagen'' concerning the cities.Nationalencyklopedin (NE) There was a need to establish a civil code and laws applying to all Sweden, both cities and countryside. The work with a national civil code begun during the

Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire or the Great Power era () was the period in Swedish history spanning much of the 17th and early 18th centuries during which Sweden became a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic regi ...

in 1686, although its completion was delayed during the

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

. The Civil Code is therefore more influenced by the 17th-century Carolean age rather than the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained th ...

or the

Age of Liberty In Swedish history, the Age of Liberty () was a period that saw parliamentary governance, increasing civil rights, and the decline of the Swedish Empire that began with the adoption of the Instrument of Government in 1719 and ended with Gustav ...

of the 1730s.

It is divided into the following Books ( Swedish : "''balkar''" ) * The Book of Marriage * The Book of Parents * The Book of Inheritance * The Book of Land * The Book of Building * The Book of Commerce * The Book of Crimes * The Book of Judicial Procedure * The Book of execution of Judgments

Translation

It was translated to the

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

in 1738, though not published in it until 1759.

References

Sources

Nationalencyklopedin (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia with several hundred thousand articles. It is available both online and via a printed version. History The project was ...

(NE) {{authoritycontrol 1734 non-fiction books 1734 in law 1734 in Sweden 18th century in Finland Civil codes Political history of Sweden Political history of Finland Legal history of Sweden Legal history of Finland Sweden during the Age of Liberty

Context

Contents

Translation

References

Sources