Local Ordinances in Fifteenth-Century Stockholm in the Context of the Baltic Region Towns

The article presents a study on the local ordinances of Stockholm, called bursprak, preserved from the second half of the fifteenth century.In this article, the contents of the Stockholm ordinances have been categorised into regulations on the code of conduct, town security, vagrant people, prostitutes and visitors from other towns, sanitation and animal husbandry, fire protection, taxation, and regulations on trade and crafts.The ordinances have been analysed as a part of the legal landscape of Stockholm.Particularly, their relationship with the general Swedish Town Law demonstrates that the ordinances functioned as supplementary regulations.The local ordinances in Stockholm were read to the public twice a year, and their contents varied a bit between summer and winter.The town ordinances were subject to continuous revisions by the town council, possibly in collaboration with a body of community representatives.A comparison has been made between the local ordinances of Stockholm and those from fifteenth-century Riga, Wismar, Leba and Lbeck, which facilitated a discussion of similarities, differences and the dissemination of legal provisions across the Baltic region.