Records of the Buda County Law Court and the Buda National Law Court, 1851-1861

Collection

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

Title:: Records of the Buda County Law Court and the Buda National Law Court, 1851-1861

Title (official language):: A Budai cs. kir. Megyetörvényszék és a Budai cs. kir. Országos Törvényszék iratai, 1851-1861

Scope and content:: This collection holds the records of the Buda County Law Court and the Buda National Law Court pertaining to localities in Pest-Pilis-Solt County, which includes records of criminal and civil lawsuits and various relevant administrative files. Records of civil lawsuits (IV. 161. a.) include several private agreements between Jews and non-Jews concerning money lending and other financial transactions, files of bankruptcy and liquidation (csődperek), cases of guardianship and inheritance and many other private law issues. (35 boxes, 2 vols., 5,72 linear metres) Records of criminal lawsuits (IV. 161. b.) include cases of theft, embezzlement, libel, breaking and entering, assault and battery, obtrusion, and other conflicts, as well as murder and manslaughter. (53 boxes, 1 vol., 8,56 linear metres) Records of the Land Register Council of Pest (Budai Telekkönyvi Tanács IV. 161. c.) holds record of sale and mortgage of real estate, including urban and landed property. (13 boxes, 2,09 linear metres) Buda National Law Court, Presidential Records (IV. 161. d.) holds mostly personnel documents of little relevance. (1 box, 0,17 linear metres) Cases of Jewish citizens can be located by the alphabetical indexes of names and subjects attached to the material. The material is of fragmented nature, that is, many case files are missing.

Archival history:: The records from the years 1851-1861 were incorporated into the medieval (feudal) section of the county archives. In the 1860s, the material was sorted and re-numbered. The trial records of the Buda County Law Court and the Buda National Law Court were united in a single collection. Since then, the collection has been rearranged and selected several times. The record group reached its present form in 1974.

Administrative/biographical history:: The Buda County Law Court and the Buda National Law Court were jurisdictional bodies established by the Habsburg administration in Hungary after the suppression of the Revolution of 1848-1849. Their sphere of authority extended to a part of the historical Pest-Pilis-Solt County, including the Óbuda, Bia, Szentendre, Buda Region (Budakülvidéki) and Ráckeve districts. In 1861, the Buda National Law Court was dissolved and replaced by the Pest-Pilis-Solt County Central Civil Court (1861-1871).

Subject terms:: Crime; Financial matters; Financial matters--Moneylending; Land; Law enforcement; Legal matters; Legal records; Real estate; Trade and commerce

System of arrangement:: The collection is arranged in four major parts: Records of civil lawsuits (IV. 161. a); Criminal lawsuits (IV. 161. b.); Records of the Land Register Council of Buda (Budai Telekkönyvi Tanács IV. 161. c.), and Buda National Law Court, Presidential Records (IV. 161. d.) The files are arranged by basic number, the numbers re-started each year.

Finding aids:: Original alphabetical indexes and registries are available for the collection. 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; 26-11-2015 (In cooperation with the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure)