Volhynia Joint Chamber of the Criminal and Civil Courts; Zhitomir, Volhynia Province

Collection

Holding institution (official language):: Державний архів Житомирської області

Title:: Volhynia Joint Chamber of the Criminal and Civil Courts; Zhitomir, Volhynia Province

Title (official language):: Волынская соединенная палата уголовного и гражданского суда, г. Житомир Волынской губ.; Волинська об’єднана палата кримінального та цивільного суду, м. Житомир Волинської губ.

Creator/accumulator:: Volhynia Joint Chamber of the Criminal and Civil Courts

Scope and content:: Included (op. 5, 8, 9) are notarial acts connected with the acquisition of a building for the Zhitomir Jewish Trade School and the sale of land for Jewish religious schools (1875-77); court case files pertaining to illegal trade (in Liubar and Zaslav) in Jewish books, including books published abroad, some of which, according to the testimony of the Kiev Jewish censor G. Barats, “were to be banned entirely” (1876-78); other court case files: on agents of the Jewish society of Zhitomir accused of “bribe-taking” [or extortion, likhoimstvo] during recruitment (1868-78); on a spiritual (non-crown) rabbi of the town of Shepetovka, Kh. G. Kats, accused of unlawfully performing marriages (1874); on the organisation in the town of Mezhirich (Rovno county) of a ḥevrah kadisha’ – “a forbidden society to see to the funerals of deceased Jews” (1876); on the construction of synagogues without requisite permits in Kremenets county (1878); on accusations of blasphemy and disparagement of the Jewish religion; on a Jewish father accused of forbidding his daughter to convert to Christianity; etc.

Administrative/biographical history:: Formed in 1871 as a result of the merger of the criminal and civil courts, this was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice and was the province’s highest judicial instance in criminal and civil cases. It was liquidated in 1880 and replaced by two newly-formed circuit courts, those of Zhitomir and Lutsk.

Access points: locations:: Kremenets county; Liubar; Rovno county; Shepetovka; Ukraine; Volhynia province; Zaslav; Zhitomir

Subject terms:: Cemeteries; Conversion to Christianity; Crime; Education; Education--Schools and universities; Education--Vocational training; Hevrah kadisha; Land; Legal matters; Marriage and divorce; Rabbis; Synagogues

System of arrangement:: The fonds includes twelve inventories systematised by document type and chronologically.