ABSTRACT
Reminders of social norms which were in force during an earlier pagan period can be found in Nordic regional medieval legislation (landskapslagarna). They demonstrate that the care of the sick and poor before the arrival of Christianity rested with the extended family. Within pagan society the family played a prominent part, and it was not until the beginning of the early modern period that the importance of the family began to decline in the legislation. From the later Middle Ages Finland had gradually been drawn into the Swedish sphere of influence and Swedish regional legislation was slowly being adapted.
