Peder Lasson was born 20 August 1606 in Randers and died 5 October (or November) 1681 in Copenhagen. He is buried in the Helligaands church near Strøget in Copenhagen. He was a son of Niels Jacobsen and Maren Pedersdatter Lassen (1575-1635). He married Magdalene Pedersdatter on 15 October 1661, a daughter of Riddermand Peder Pedersen in Copenhagen (ca. 1594-1667) who was married to Agnete Schwencke (married 2.time in 1668 to Peter Buelche, President in Copenhagen).
Peder Lasson was named after his mother's father, Peder Lasson (1546-1618). When he was 17 years old, he left Denmark and went abroad. With the exception of a few short periods, Peder Lasson spent most of his life outside his home-country. In July 1627 he enrolled at the University of Copenhagen but only a short time after, he left the country. He traveled throughout Europe, spending time in Rostock, Orleans and Padua, Italy. In 1636, he accquired his legal exam in Basel based on a paper called "De jurisdictione et imperio".
Later, he went to Dresden and Vienna where he worked in courts. On several occasions (1646 and 1660), he was supposed to move to Stockholm as a diplomat but it never happened. Instead he was employed as Raad and Assessor in the Hoejesteret with a pay of 800 Rdl, a significant sum. However, it took his wife over ten years to claim the money after his death. In 1661 and beyond, Peder Lassen contributed greatly to the creation of Christian V's Danish laws ("Danske Lov"). He worked as a member of a 21-person strong commission which had a mission of giving suggestions for reform and revision of exisiting laws. During this time, he had a bitter feud with a colleauge named Rasmus Vinding (1615-1684) with whom he had disputes over the wording of the laws.
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