The Agency and Practical Learning of a Lay Advocate in Seventeenth-Century Helsinki: The Case of Gabriel Abrahamsson

Abstract

This chapter discusses seventeenth-century Sweden, where academically trained advocates and procurators emerged but attempts of advocacy monopoly failed. The case of Gabriel Abrahamsson—a son of a pastor, a former cavalryman and farmer, and, later on, a lower-level civil servant in Helsinki—proves that no specific privileged status or academic education was needed for advocacy in lower courts. The tradition to use any reasonable man as a legal representative continued, and trusted men from various social backgrounds with self-acquired legal skills acted as lay advocates. Gabriel learned law by doing. His voluminous private and office litigation enabled him to act increasingly as a legal representative for others.