Metadata: Ludza District Court, Vitebsk Governorate
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs
- Postal address:
- Slokas iela 16, Rīga, 1048
- Phone number:
- +371 20 017 505
- Reference number:
- 713
- Title:
- Ludza District Court, Vitebsk Governorate
- Title (official language):
- Ludzas apriņķa tiesa (Ludza, Vitebskas guberņa)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Lucin (Ludza) District Court
- Date(s):
- 1772/1872
- Language:
- Russian
- Polish
- Extent:
- 1,467 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection mainly contains civil and criminal cases from the Lucin (Ludza) District Court from 1772 to 1872, including some Jewish-related files. Criminal cases mentioning Jews as suspects or victims include charges of murder and theft. A file dated 1781 includes materials on the murder and robbery of P Aronovich by unknown persons (inventory 3, file 44). Some records in cases of theft reveal information about Jews' occupation in taverns and lease holdings. For instance, files from 1799 deal with a case of theft from the tavern of Meerovich (inventory 3, file 276), and on a theft by the peasant Stepanov from the barn of Leibovich, a Jew (inventory 3, file 276). Some files reveal tensions between Jews and the nobility regarding the Jews' position in economic life and their economic activity. A file from 1784 deals with charges against the landowner Benislavskaia for removing rye from the bar of the Jew Itsikovich (inventory 3, file 109). Among civil cases in the collection are papers dated from 1788-1789 concerning a claim by Polish noble D V Slavinski against Rubinovich, a Jewish merchant (inventory 3, file 148) and a lawsuit by Jewish pharmacist Pozner against a peasant, Timoshenko in 1863 regarding payment of bills issued in exchange for transfer of leased land (inventory 2, file 17). While this is not evident in the inventories, it is reasonable to assume that one would find Jewish-related records also in Lucin District population lists from 1772 and in descriptions of factories in the district's territory in 1864.
- Archival history:
- After World War I and the establishment of an independent Latvia, the archival materials from the Tsarist period were consolidated into the newly organised Latvian State Archive which existed throughout the interwar period.After the Soviet takeover of Latvia, the archive was renamed and established as the Central State Archive of the Latvian SSR. In 1962 it was decided to reorganise the archive and it was renamed the Central State Historical Archives of the Latvian SSR. The materials predating the period of Soviet rule were deposited in this archive, which is the predecessor of the current State Historical Archives.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- District courts were first-instance judicial institutions in the Russian Empire that consisted of elected members and considered civil and criminal cases. On the territories of the Empire’s Western provinces, including the Vitebsk Governorate, the judges were elected only from the nobility. At the same time, all members of the courts had to be approved by the governorate administration. From 1840s, in order to prevent the spread of Polish influence in Western governorates, the Russian central authorities began to substantially restrict the rights of nobles to elect judges. In 1872 the Lucin District Court was abolished in accordance with the judicial reform of 1864.
- Access points: locations:
- Ludza
- Access points: persons/families:
- Aronovich, P
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of three inventories.
- 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
