Metadata: Bełz Castle Court, City of Bełz, Bełz Voivodeship
Collection
- Country:
- Ukraine
- Holding institution:
- Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine, Lviv
- Holding institution (official language):
- Центральний державний історичний архів України, м. Львів
- Postal address:
- pl. Soborna, 3-а, 79008, L’viv
- Phone number:
- + 38 (032) 235-40-63
- Web address:
- archives.gov.ua/Eng/Archives/ca04.php
- Email:
- tsdial@arch.gov.ua
- Reference number:
- F. 1
- Title:
- Bełz Castle Court, City of Bełz, Bełz Voivodeship
- Title (official language):
- Белзький гродський суд, м. Белз, Белзького воєводства
- Creator/accumulator:
- Bełz Castle Court
- Date(s):
- 1500/1787
- Language:
- Latin
- Polish
- Ukrainian
- Extent:
- 1,199 archival storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
Fonds of castle courts contain the following types of material: minutes (primary records made in the presence of appellants); inductae (execution copies); fascicles, i.e., bundles of documents, whether entered or not into execution versions of logs; registers (titles of writs); and indexes (by subject, geography, and other indicators for registry books and fascicles). (Fascicles typically constitute a fonds’s second and third inventory; indexes, which constitute the fourth inventory, are strictly auxiliary, used to look up folders and match information.) There are also reference materials: registry books (logs of writs) and court logs, the former organised by particular subject, that is, in accordance with the type of documents submitted. In particular, there are books containing public and private writs; inscriptiones (real estate contracts); relationes (reports, notifications, and statements pertaining to cases); oblata (copies of official documents); manifestationes (sworn statements, complaints); and logs of oaths and minutes. Court logs contain minutes and records of criminal cases and investigations, and decree logs (i.e., logs recording court rulings).
Materials in this fonds that pertain to Jewish history include files and logs of minutes reflecting the property status of Jews and their business and professional activities, including the following documents: court orders, writs, contracts, minutes of court proceedings, etc., that pertain to the acquisition of land; the fulfilment of debt obligations to representatives of the gentry (szlachta), Catholic monasteries, and representatives of the Armenian and other communities; receipts for debt payments and for the provision and return of collateral; orders for the arrest of Jews accused of defaulting on loans and tax payments; materials pertaining to Jewish leaseholders, their leasing of the position of tax-collector and of liquor licenses; and receipts issued by Jewish leaseholders; materials pertaining to lawsuits between Jewish leaseholders and representatives of the gentry and other classes (15th-18th centuries).
Many of these court documents and minutes reflect the hearing of cases of mutual claims, among Jews or between Jews and non-Jews, regarding various monetary and business matters, as well as the transfer of real estate rights to or by Jews, including court documents on inheritance issues, the administration of inherited property, etc.
Records of the Bełz Castle Court include dozens of entries about the leaseholder Joszko Zusmanowicz, who collected taxes in Bełz, Lublin, Lwów, and Chelm in the first half of the 16th c., in particular, materials pertaining to his registration as a tax collector; to cases of nonpayment and the confiscation of property from debtors; allegations of arbitrariness on Zusmanowicz’s part; and lawsuits pertaining to household issues and the registration of Zusmanowicz’s inheritance (1520-39). The fonds also contains legislation ratifying the privileges of the Jews of Sokal (1565; 1613).
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Castle courts were judicial and administrative bodies of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The term derives from the Old Slavonic grod, a fortress or castle, where these courts carried out their functions. They were also called castle-starosta courts (or starosta courts), as they were headed by starostas. Castle courts were established in the counties of the Ruthenian and Bełz voivodeships from 1435, lasting until 1783. In some cases, counties that did not have a castle court — for example, the Przeworsk and Kołomyja counties of the Ruthenian voivodeship (which were centred around Lwów) — were served by the courts of neighbouring counties. The jurisdiction of castle courts initially included criminal cases involving the gentry (szlachta), while land courts heard civil cases (property, financial, etc. cases). Over time, however, the distinction between the functions of these courts became blurred.
The castle court consisted of the county starosta, who was appointed by the king, and who in turn appointed a deputy (the podstarosta), as well as a judge and clerk. The castle court convened to hear criminal cases every six weeks, and every two weeks, to hear misdemeanour and civil cases. Unlike the offices of the land courts, those of the castle courts were in continuous operation, which was the primary reason that the functions and jurisdictions of land and castle courts became blurred. In the 14th century, castle courts were vested with the so-called “right of eternity” (prawo wieczności), which meant that documents certified by these courts and entered into their registry books had legal force; this had formerly been the prerogative of land courts. The blurring of the functions of castle and land courts was reflected in the composition of castle books. Court decrees, acts of “private will” (wills and testaments, contracts), and government writs (privileges, charters, decrees, and orders) were recorded in registries of writs. Also recorded here were protests, complaints, and various documents pertaining to court proceedings and record keeping.
The castle courts of Galicia were abolished by 1784 amid judicial reforms carried out by the Austrian authorities.
- Access points: persons/families:
- Zusmanowicz, Joszko
- System of arrangement:
- The files in the castle court fonds are arranged by source type as well as by subject and chronologically.
- Finding aids:
- Inventories are available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary