Records of the Pest Commercial Law Court, 1853-1861

Collection description

Holding institution (official language):: Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Pest Megyei Levéltára

Title (official language):: A Pesti Kereskedelmi Törvényszék iratai, 1853-1861

Scope and content:: The collection holds the records of the Imperial and Royal Pest Commercial Law Court, which was a court specialised in commercial law cases, including bankruptcy and warrants, inheritance, testaments, salaries, contracts and other work-related cases, sales, lease, registration of companies and many other issues. The surviving fragments almost exclusively concern include the charges of usury, falsification of bills/notes (váltóhamisítás), and other financial offences violating the existing imperial laws on credit and bills. Several Jewish citizens can be found among the defendants, aggrieved parties and witnesses. The material mostly contains various types of petitions and appeals from the decisions of the Court by those who were arrested and sentenced to debtor’s prison (Schuldenarrest, Schuldenhaft).

Archival history:: The records were obtained by the Pest County Archives in the 1950s. The record group reached its present form in the early 1970s. A part of the records of the Imperial and Royal Pest Commercial Law Court were taken to the Budapest Municipal Archives (RG no. VII.3.) http://bparchiv.hu/index.php?action=registrum®istrum_action=show_fonds&parent_fond_id=1347

Administrative/biographical history:: The Imperial and Royal Pest Commercial Law Court (K.K. Handelsgericht in Pesth) was a court specialised in commercial law cases in the territory of the jurisdiction of the Buda and Pest National Courts (Budai és Pesti Országos Törvényszék). Its predecessor was the Pesti Elsőbíróságú Királyi Váltótörvényszék established in 1841, specialised in cases of violation of the Law on Bills of 1840 (váltótörvény, Act XV of 1840), the first modern law regulating moneylending and credit transactions in Hungary.

Subject terms:: Financial matters; Legal matters; Legal records; Trade and commerce

System of arrangement:: The records are arranged chronologically, the number of case files re-started each year. Box 1 holds presidential records (1861), whereas boxes 2-4 hold general records from the years 1853-1861. Box 5 holds witness testimonies in alphabetical order (J to V).

Finding aids:: No registries or indexes exist. Ernő Lakatos, ed: A Magyar Állami Levéltárak fondjegyzéke, Vol. III. A Területi Levéltárak fondjegyzékei Part 13. A Pest Megyei Levéltár fondjainak jegyzéke. Budapest: Magyar Országos Levéltár, 1975.

Author of the description:: László Csősz; Hungarian National Archives; 23-11-2015 (In cooperation with the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure)