This article is a case study based on court records. What seems initially to be a petty theft gives rise to remarkable events. Affairs that are initially private later become public. Various events in and around the court throw light upon the way court and community respond to family stress in a mid-nineteenth century rural northern Swedish community. Testimonies by a large number of witnesses in court reveal a society in transition with elements of a money market, which means here a huge amount of ready money in circulation and arenas ready to shelter private transactions.