Royal Police Ordinances in Early Modern Sweden offers a comprehensive account of the legal regulation of 16th- and 17th-century Swedish society. In comparison to present-day usage, during the early modern period the term ‘police’ had a broader meaning. It referred to ‘good societal order’ covering a variety of areas of societal life such as public finances, commerce, professions, infrastructure, public health and poor relief, public morality, public security, and so on.
Through an analysis of a large body of ordinances Toomas Kotkas claims that in 17th-century Sweden a new, voluntaristic understanding of law emerged. Royal police ordinances were no longer perceived merely as a means of enforcing older medieval law but instead as an instrument of directing society towards aspired-to goals.