Page last updated: 2009-04-20
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LiU E-Press
Research from LiU
Electronic Publishing
About LiU E-Press
Creative Commons
Database of Fines
Transcription to Database
Both Linköping’s and Norrköping’s fines have been collected in a publically accessible database. The information for this database has been register from Linköpings sentence register (1800–1849, volumes AI:103–152); sentence register for 1850–1900 (volumes AIIIa:1–51); Norrköping’s sentence register for 1858–1894, volumes AIcb:1–37; register of fines for 1853–1898 volumes DIX:1–2 and sentence register for 1850–1900, volumes AIIIa:1–51.
The transcription from the original tomes to the on-line databases has maintained the notation, spelling, etc. of the original documents. The exception is that dates have been written in the modern style, to be more compatible with on-line searching. All transcription was done directly from the originals and the Regional Archives in Vadstena, Sweden, supplied all the fines registers. ArkivData in Norrköping have carried out digitalization of the originals. The database contains 22 076 records and is only available in Swedish.
References to the Database
Depending on which year(s) you are interested in, parts of the reference may be excluded.
Linköping’s Records of Fines
Regional Archives in Vadstena, Linköpings sentence register 1800–1849, volumes AI:103–152, sentence register for 1850–1900, volumes AIIIa:1–51. Linköping University Electronic Press http://www2.ep.liu.se/databaser/boter/ (2010-03-20).
Norrköping’s Records of Fines
Regional Archives in Vadstena, Norrköping’s sentence register, 1858–1894, volumes AIcb:1–37, register of fines 1853–1898, volumes DIX:1–2, sentence register 1850–1900, volumes AIIIa:1–51. Linköping University Electronic Press http://www2.ep.liu.se/databaser/boter/ (2010-03-20).
Short Description
Punishment
Before and after the punishment law of 1734 there were in principle two types of punishment in Sweden: fines and death penalty. Fines could also be substituted with prison or corporal punishment. If a person could not pay a fine, then they were often whipped or put in prison on bread and water. Usually it is not given in the fines register if a person’s sentence was changed to something else. Occasionally a notation was made but not often. Corporal punishment was mainly whipping for men and lashing using branches for women. Corporal punishment was a comment replacement for fines. After 1841 corporal punishment was no longer passed as a sentence and in 1855 it was stopped entirely. For shoplifting or for people with delicate bodies corporal punishment was often replaced with prison with bread and water for sustenance. Bread and water punishment was stopped in 1884. The present-day prison sentence was not used before the 19th century.
Fines Register
A fines register records the fines that were given out over a period of time in a given city. Fines registers were first started in the 16th century. In the earliest periods, fines records were sent to the King and saved in the National Archive. In the last two decades of the 17th century, fines began also to be recorded in local sentence registers. Unfortunately, there is no existing record of fines for Linköping for the 18th century. This is most likely because Linköping maintained its own fines records (which were destroyed once the fines were paid) and no copy was sent to the Crown.
The following fields are included in the database:
- City (Linköping or Norrköping)
- Year
- Paragraph in the sentencing book
- Number in the register of fines
- Date of sentence
- Gender
- Forename
- Family name
- Residence
- Profession
- Type of crime
- Punishment (fines or other punishment)
- Crowns/Riksdaler (amount of fines)
- Öre (amount of fines – 100 öre = 1 Crone)
- Skilling (amount of fines – 48 Skilling = 1 Riksdaler)
- Runstycken (amount of fines – 12 runstycken = 1 Skilling)
- Notes
- Source
