Metadata: Collection of courts’ files and documents
Collection
- Country:
- Lithuania
- Holding institution:
- Lithuanian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas
- Postal address:
- Mindaugo g. 8, 03107 Vilnius
- Phone number:
- +370 5 219 5320
- Email:
- istorijos.archyvas@lvia.lt
- Reference number:
- 32
- Title:
- Collection of courts’ files and documents
- Title (official language):
- Teismų bylų ir dokumentų kolekcija
- Creator/accumulator:
- Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; Assessors’ Court of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; Treasury Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
- Date(s):
- 1528/1864
- Language:
- Polish
- Russian
- Slavic languages
- Latin
- Extent:
- 5,527 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The collection contains materials and judicial decisions on civil and criminal cases that were heard at three different courts in Lithuania mainly from 1581 until the early 19th century: Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Assessors’ Court of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Treasury Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The materials include extracts from the courts’ books and various financial documents such as debt bills, contracts, wills and powers of attorney. Many materials related to the Jewish population in Lithuania were preserved in the records of the Assessors’ Court of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Such documents include papers on legal disputes over property, money and land issues. These disputes reflect issues of Jewish economic life. For instance, a file from 1787 contains records on a material dispute between Movshovich and his creditors (inventory 3, file 2178). In some cases, Jews were involved on both sides of the conflict. A file from 1752 contains records of a material dispute between Khatskel’ and Rabinovich (inventory 3, file 3463). Numerous other cases involved Jews and non-Jews, which may also shed light on interethnic tensions in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. These include, for example: materials from 1810 and 1814 on the case between Voitsekhovich and Jewish townsmen (meshchane) (inventory 3, files 482, 483), from 1789 on the case between Grinevich and Jewish townsmen (inventory 3, file 817), undated papers on disputes between Gdansk merchants Getfurid and Jewish merchants Beniaminovich from Shklov (inventory 3, file 789), and undated papers on a dispute between the Dominicans of Grodno with Jewish townsmen (inventory 3, file 836). The collection contains records from 1790 on a dispute between the Grodno kahal with a non-Jewish subject Makacheva (inventory 3, file 839), undated papers on a dispute between the Zhlobin kahal with non-Jewish resident Kozlovsky (inventory 3, file 1532), and from 1800 between the Kovno (Kaunas) kahal with the Kovno powiat (county) residents (inventory 3, file 1509). Materials on the Grodno kahal also are included in case from 1783 on its dispute with the Franciscans and Carmelites (inventory 3, file 842). The collection also contains documents dated 1793 on material disputes between the Vilna (Vilnius) kahal and various persons (inventory 3, file 421). Records from 1779 contain materials on a dispute between the Pozelvian kahal and the kahal of Vilkomir (inventory 3, file 1342).
- Archival history:
- In 1853 a collection of court files and documents was handed over to the Vilnius Central Archives of Ancient Acts. At the end of World War II, these materials were transferred to the Central State Archives of the Lithuanian SSR. In 1957, together with other pre-revolutionary materials, the collection was integrated into the Central State Historical Archive of the Lithuanian SSR, predecessor of the current State Historical Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was established in 1581 as a highest appeal court with additional notarial functions. The Tribunal was a court for criminal and civil cases. In civil cases it settled various conflicts concerning land, property and taxes. The Tribunal had jurisdiction over nobility, however, its enforcement capacity was limited as it delegated these functions to the lower courts. Therefore, the Tribunal’s decisions were frequently ignored. In 1795 the Tribunal ceased to function following the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 1581 the Assessors’ Court of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the highest legal instance which heard cases that did not fall within the competence of the Lithuanian Tribunal. The court heard appeals submitted by townsmen, state peasants and Jews. It continued to function until 1797. The Treasury Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was established in 1609 for exercising control over the revenues and expenditures of the state treasury. It heard cases related to non-payment of taxes, cases involving the army including complaints against it by treasury commissioners and other subjects. In 1764 the court’s functions were taken over by the Treasury Commission of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The kahals were executive elected boards run by Jewish autonomous communities, but reflected an oligarchic system in which the communities were formed by the property-owning population. The kahals’ duties included collective tax burden negotiated by the lay leadership with the authorities and imposed on all the communities rather than on each individual within it.
- Subject terms:
- Financial matters
- Kahal
- Legal records
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of three inventories that are arranged in thematic-chronological order.
- Finding aids:
- Detailed inventories are available on the website on the Lithuanian Chief Archivist Service.
- 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
