Court Records from Elsinore and Falster: 17th and 18th Centuries

The main purpose of the project is to show how Danish court records from the 17th century and the 18th century may be exploited systematically. To this end, the well-preserved series of court records from Elsinore and Falster have been selected for investigation. The project has made use of the so-called case typological method, according to which the material to be investigated is broken up into the smallest possible, indivisible units, i.e. cases, which are then classified typologically and in accordance with contemporary legal usage. This should make Danish court archives easily accessible to historians, sociologists, and ethnologists who thus gain access to information on the living conditions of the lower social classes and of the higher social classes as well as the interaction between the two groups. Furthermore, the data material has been useful for an examination of the penetration and the practical use of the Danish Law Code, 1683 (Danske Lov) in the lower courts. In the project 17,061 cases have been registered, i.e. approx. 9,500 cases around 1683 and approx. 7,500 cases from the period 1612-1629 for comparison. The long-range plan is a registration of the records from the 17th century to the 19th century, and possibly also a registration of all Danish court archives. Finally, it will also be possible to link this project with similar projects in other countries