Metadata: Records of the Kecskemét County Law Court, 1854-1861
Collection
- Country:
- Hungary
- Holding institution:
- National Archives of Hungary, Pest County Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár Pest Megyei Levéltára
- Postal address:
- Pf. 141., H-1450 Budapest, Hungary
- Phone number:
- +36 1 455 9050
- Web address:
- http://mnl.gov.hu/pml/
- Email:
- pml@mnl.gov.hu
- Reference number:
- IV.162
- Title:
- Records of the Kecskemét County Law Court, 1854-1861
- Title (official language):
- A Kecskeméti cs. kir. Megyetörvényszék iratai, 1854-1861
- Creator/accumulator:
- Kecskemét County Law Court
- Date(s):
- 1854/1861
- Language:
- Hungarian
- German
- Extent:
- 42.6 linear metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- This collection holds the records of the Kecskemét County Law Court, which includes records of criminal and civil lawsuits and minutes of court meetings. Minutes of court meetings (IV. 162. a.) hold the minutes of the united meetings (együttes ülés) of the civil and criminal law courts (1854-1858), and the meetings of the civil and criminal law courts, respectively (1859-1861). Initially, the minutes included the decisions of the courts about cases settled outside the court (perenkívüli ügyek). Later on, the minutes included only a short summary of the cases, therefore the second part of this provenance group is of little relevance. (16 vols., 1 linear metre) Records of civil lawsuits (IV. 162. b.) 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. (34 boxes, 34 vols., 7.6 linear metres) Records of petty offences (fenyítő perek, IV. 162. c.) include minor criminal cases which were settled out of court, such as pickpocketing, violations of press regulations and counterfeit. Despite its title, this part of the material also includes criminal lawsuits including, but not limited to, cases of theft, breaking and entering, assault and battery, obtrusion, and other conflicts, as well as murder and manslaughter. (201 boxes, 29 vols., 34 linear metres) Cases of Jewish citizens can be located by the alphabetical indexes of names and subject attached to the material.
- Archival history:
- The material from the years 1854-1861 was incorporated into the medieval (feudal) section of the county archives. In the 1860s, the records were sorted and re-numbered. Since then, the collection has been rearranged and selected several times. The record group reached its present form in 1973.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Kecskemét County Law Court was a jurisdictional body established by the Habsburg administration in Hungary after the suppression of the Revolution of 1848-1849. Its sphere of authority extended to most of the territory of the historical Pest-Pilis-Solt County, including the Kecskemét, Kalocsa, Dunavecse and Solt districts, as well as the towns of Abony, Cegléd and Nagykőrös. In 1861, the Kecskemét County Law Court was dissolved and replaced by the Pest-Pilis-Solt County Central Civil Court (1861-1871).
- Access points: locations:
- Kecskemét
- System of arrangement:
- The collection is arranged into three major provenance groups: Minutes of court meetings (IV. 162. a.), Records of civil lawsuits (IV. 162. b); Records of petty offences (fenyítő perek, IV. 162. c.). The files are arranged by basic number, the numbers re-started each year. Minutes of court meetings are arranged in chronological order.
- Finding aids:
- Original 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.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives
- Author of the description:
- László Csősz; Hungarian National Archives; 26-11-2015 (In cooperation with the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure)