Metadata: Kaunas District Court, Kaunas Governorate
Collection
- Country:
- Lithuania
- Holding institution:
- Kaunas Regional State Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Kauno Regioninis Valstybės Archyvas
- Postal address:
- Maironio g. 28B, 44249 Kaunas
- Phone number:
- +370 (837) 323 111
- Web address:
- https://www.archyvai.lt/lt/kaa_naujienos.html
- Email:
- kaunas@archyvai.lt
- Reference number:
- I-69
- Title:
- Kaunas District Court, Kaunas Governorate
- Title (official language):
- Kauno gubernijos Kauno apskrities teismas
- Creator/accumulator:
- Kaunas District Court
- Date(s):
- 1803/1872
- Language:
- Russian
- Extent:
- 1,954 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection includes material on various civil cases and criminal prosecution files, minutes of different Kaunas district courts, their decisions and registers, and the Kaunas magistrate protocols. The collection includes numerous Jewish-related files which relate mainly to civil proceedings on issues such as inheritance rights, monetary claims and disputes regarding real estate. An important part of these papers refers to legal proceedings of mutual monetary and hereditary claims between siblings, between parents and children, and between spouses. Thus, these documents facilitate study of the history of the Jewish family and gender relations within Jewish families. For instance, a file dated 1855-1856 contains materials about monetary claims between Iankel Raikes and his two daughters (inventory 2, file 166). A file dated 1862-1866 contains papers on monetary claims between Girsh Varshavchik and his wife Hana Feiga Varshavchik (inventory 2, file 245). A further example is the proceedings from f 1854 on the inheritance dispute between Meer Gintsberg and his four brothers (inventory 2, file 154).
Another important part of the Jewish records in the collection are monetary and property claims between Jews engaged in various types of economic activity, as well as between Jews and non-Jews, including landowners, peasants, and merchants. Such materials can shed light on inter-ethnic relations in the Kovno district, and particularly on conflicts between Jews and landowners. For example, the collection contains papers from the 1847-1852 proceedings on seizure of land, belonging to the Jewish Shapiro family, by landowner Kognovitsky, as well as on acts of violence by the landowner against Shapiro (inventory 2, file 115). In addition, the collection contains wills and records on commercial transactions that shed light on the economic activities and life of the Jews. For example, records from 1848 contain data on the sale of a tavern in the town of Chekishki by the nobleman Mikutsky to the Jewish resident Iablonsky (inventory 2, file 856). A file from 1849 contains the decision of the arbitral tribunal on disputes and mutual claims between the Kovno merchant Voltoy and the son of the Jewish merchant Varshavchik for supplying the Russian army with firewood, candles and straw (inventory 2, file 880). While this is not evident in the inventory list, it is reasonable to assume that one would also find Jewish names in the minutes of different Kovno district courts, their registers, and the Kovno magistrate protocols.
- Archival history:
- No information
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
District courts were first-instance judicial institutions in the Russian Empire, which consisted of elected members. In the Empire’s Western governorates, including the Kovno Governorate, the judges were elected only amongst nobles. At the same time, all members of the courts had to be approved by the governorate administration. Since the 1840s, in order to prevent the spread of the Polish influence in Western governorates, the Russian central authorities began to substantially restrict the rights of nobles to elect judges.
The judicial statutes of 1864 introduced a new judicial system in the territory of the Russian Empire, consisting of two groups of courts. These included peace courts and general judicial institutions such as regional courts and chambers of appeal. Thus, mainly in the 1870s, the functions of the district courts were gradually transferred to the new judicial institutions of peace courts and regional courts.
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of four inventories that are arranged in thematic-chronological order.
- Finding aids:
- Detailed inventories are available for free online access on the website of the Lithuanian Chief Archivist Service.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://eais-pub.archyvai.lt/eais/faces/pages/forms/search/F3001.jspx
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Ilya Vovshin, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019
