''Magnus Erikssons landslag'' ('Country Law of Magnus Eriksson'), also known as simply the ('Country Law'), was a Swedish

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 King

Magnus Eriksson Magnus Eriksson (April or May 1316 – 1 December 1374) was King of Sweden from 1319 to 1364, King of Norway as Magnus VII from 1319 to 1355, and ruler of Scania from 1332 to 1360. By adversaries he has been called ''Magnus Smek'' (). Medi ...

around 1341. It was the first attempt to apply a legal code to the entire nation of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, replacing the previous local county laws under

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 ...

. The Country Law applied to the entire countryside, but not to the cities, which were governed according to the ('City Law'), which were issued in about the same time, but were separate. ''

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 ...

'' from 1442 was an amended version this law, in effect in Sweden until the

Civil Code of 1734 The Civil Code of 1734 ( Swedish: ''1734 års lag''), was a code of law passed by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates in 1734, and put in effect after it had been ratified by Frederick I of Sweden 23 January 1736. It became the foundation of the lat ...

. The royal oath that was stipulated in Magnus' country code said that: The law was divided into the following chapters (): *Kyrkobalken - The Church *Konungabalken - The King *Giftermålsbalken - Marriage *Ärvdabalken - Inheritance *Jordabalken - Land *Byggningabalken - Buildings *Köpmålabalken - Merchants *Tingmålabalken - Court *Edsöresbalken - Breach of Peace *Högmålsbalken - Capital cases *Dråp med vilja - Intentional homicide *Dråp med våda - Involuntary manslaughter *Såramål med vilja - Deliberate Assault *Såramål med våda - Accidental assault *Tjuvabalken - Theft

References

* Nationalencyklopedin (NE)

References

Further reading