Metadata: Rossieny (Samogitia) Town Court
Collection
- Country:
- Lithuania
- Holding institution:
- Lithuanian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas
- Postal address:
- Mindaugo 8, 03107 Vilnius
- Phone number:
- +370 5 219 5320
- Email:
- istorijos.archyvas@lvia.lt
- Reference number:
- 285
- Title:
- Rossieny (Samogitia) Town Court
- Title (official language):
- Raseinių (Žemaičių) pilies teismas
- Creator/accumulator:
- Rossieny Town Court
- Date(s):
- 1552/1830
- Language:
- Russian
- Polish
- Latin
- Extent:
- 149 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection of the Rossieny Town Court contains the court’s decisions, minutes, registers, acts of purchases and sales, wills, attorneys’ letters, complaints of individuals to court officials, books of serfs and inventories of estates. The collection also includes various documents referring to criminal investigations in the Duchy of Samogitia such as records of interrogation of witnesses. Few Jewish-related materials are part of the collection. Those that exist relate to some criminal matters and property disputes. These records enable the study of internal Jewish community life and its engagement in crime. A file dated by 1798 includes materials on a monetary dispute between Zalman Gabrielovich, Movsha Davidovich and other Jews against Vidger Movshovich and the Rossieny Jewish kahal (inventory 2, file 3). A kahal served as a Jewish community council and its duties included control over taxation and managing Jewish institutions. The documents may shed light on tensions within the Rossieny Jewish community regarding the kahal’s activities. Another file in the collection from 1817-1825 includes papers related to an indictment filed by the Russian authorities against the Jewish subject Shahno accusing him of smuggling (inventory 1, file 30). It was a stereotypically “Jewish” criminal activity because of the location of Jews on the borderlands and their concentration in cities. Rossieny was close to the border with Kingdom of Prussia. Different import duties, the Russian economic policy of protectionism and sizeable profits made smuggling a worthwhile and common activity despite a high-risks of clashes with border patrols.
- Archival history:
- In 1853 the collection of the Rossieny (Žemaičių) Town Court was handed over to the Vilnius Central Archives of Ancient Acts from Rossieny Dominican Monastery. At the end of World War II, these materials were transferred to the Central State Archives of the Lithuanian SSR. In 1957 the collection, together with other pre-revolutionary materials, was included in the Central State Historical Archive of the Lithuanian SSR, predecessor of the current State Historical Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Following legal and administrative reforms in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1564-1566, town courts were established. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was subdivided into administrative areas called - powiat, in which several types of court operated – zemski (land), grodsky (town) and podkomorski. Initially the Town Courts were established to consider criminal matters of the nobles (szlachta). From the 17th century the jurisdiction of the Town Courts, whose judge was appointed by the starosta, independently of the dietine, was increased. The courts considered both civil and criminal matters. This process led to a growth in the number of the Town Courts’ functions.
At the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Rossieny was the center of the Duchy of Samogitia and the jurisdiction of the Rossieny Town Court covers the entire territory of the duchy. In 1792 the Rossieny Town Court was abolished, but as early as 1794 its activities were resumed by the Russian Empress Catherine the Great and it continued to exist until 1831.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Davidovich, Movsha
- Gabrielovich, Zalman
- Shahno
- Subject terms:
- Crime
- Financial matters
- Kahal
- Legal matters
- Real estate
- Smuggling
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of two inventories arranged in thematical-chronological order.
- Finding aids:
- Detailed inventories are available 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, 2020
