In Sweden, a common system for weights and measures was introduced by law in 1665. Before that, there were a number of local variants. The system was slightly revised in 1735. In 1855, a decimal reform was instituted that defined a new Swedish inch as 1/10 foot. Up to the middle of the 19th century there was a law allowing for the imposition of the death penalty for falsifying weights or measures. Sweden adopted the metric system in 1889. Only the mil has been preserved, now measuring 10km, however.
Length
aln – Forearm (cf. Ell) (pl. alnar). After 1863, 59.37 cm. Before that, from 1605, 59.38 cm as defined by king Carl IX of Sweden in Norrköping 1604 based on Rydaholmsalnen.
fot – Foot, 1/2 aln. Before 1863, the Stockholmfot was the commonly accepted unit, at 29.69 cm.
linje – Line, after 1863 1/10 tum, 2.96 mm. Before that, 1/12 tum or 2.06 mm.
mil – Mile, also lantmil. From 1699, defined as a unity mile of 18000 aln or 10.69 km. The unified mile was meant to define the suitable distance between inns. (The current Swedish mil is exactly 10 kilometers,)
nymil – New mile from 1889, 10 km exactly. Commonly used to this day, only referred to as mil.
kyndemil – The distance a torch will last, approx 16 km
skogsmil – Also rast, distance between rests in the woods, approx 5 km.
fjärdingsväg – 1/4 mil
stenkast – Stone's throw, approx 50 m, used to this day as an approximate measure.
ref – 160 fot, for land measurement, was 100 fot after 1855.
stång – 16 fot, for land measurement
tum – Thumb (inch), 1/12 fot, 2.474 cm. After 1863 1/10 fot, 2.96 cm, not much accepted by professional users in mechanics and carpentry who later switched to English inch (2.54 cm, abandoned only late 20th century) and metric system.
tvärhand – Hand, 4 inches.
Area
kannaland – 1000 fot², or 88.15 m²
kappland – 154.3 m².
spannland – 16 kappland
tunnland – 2 spannland or 4937.6 m², about 1 acre
kvadratmil – Square mil, 36 million square favnar, from 1739.
