Metadata: Przeworsk Land Court, City of Przeworsk, Przemyśl Land, Ruthenian 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. 12
- Title:
- Przeworsk Land Court, City of Przeworsk, Przemyśl Land, Ruthenian Voivodeship
- Title (official language):
- Переворський земський суд, м. Переворськ, Перемишльської землі, Руського воєводства
- Creator/accumulator:
- Przeworsk Land Court
- Date(s):
- 1437/1777
- Language:
- Latin
- Polish
- Ukrainian
- Extent:
- 99 archival storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Scope and content:
-
Land court fonds 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). There are also reference materials: registry books (logs of writs) and court logs, the former organised by subject, i.e. in accordance with the type of documents submitted. In particular, there are books containing public and private writs; inscriptiones (real estate contracts); relationes (“attestations”, i.e. reports, notifications and statements pertaining to cases); oblata (copies of official documents); and manifestationes (complaints, sworn statements). There are logs of power of attorney and of oaths, but only in the form of minutes.
Materials in this fonds that pertain to Jewish history are mainly in the form of documents of a demographic nature: registers and lists of persons of the Jewish faith who lived in cities and towns of the Ruthenian voivodeship (1650s-1750s).
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Land courts, whose jurisdiction included hearing cases involving the gentry (szlachta), including gentry smallholders, were formed in counties of the Ruthenian and Bełz voivodeships beginning in 1435. They were established in each county (land courts are known to have existed in Halicz, Żydaczów, Lwów, Kołomyja, Krasnostaw, Przeworsk, Przemyśl, Sanok, Trembowla, Chełm, Stryj, Sambor, Jarosław, Grabowiec, etc.). The Central State Historical Archives of Ukraine in Lviv holds fonds pertaining to nine land courts that operated in the territory of the Ruthenian and Bełz voivodeships.
The jurisdiction of land courts initially included civil cases (property, financial, etc.) between gentry landowners or between members of the gentry and clergy, while castle courts heard criminal cases. Over time, however, the distinction between the functions of these courts became blurred and from the 16th century onwards land courts began to give way in importance to castle courts. Judges and judicial officials of land courts were regularly elected by gentry regional councils (sejmiki). The offices of these courts, unlike those of castle courts, were not in continuous operation, which was the primary reason for the mixing of the functions of the land and castle courts and their competencies. Sessions of land courts took place several times a year, with the location rotating regularly between three or four cities. Land 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. In the 16th century the “right of eternity” was extended to castle courts.
The castle and land courts of Galicia were abolished by 1784 amid judicial reforms carried out by the Austrian authorities. Evidently, given the scope of their activity, land courts (unlike castle courts) had relatively infrequent contact with the Jewish population.
- Access points: locations:
- Przeworsk
- Subject terms:
- Legal records
- Vital records
- System of arrangement:
- The files in the castle court fonds are arranged by source type as well as by subject and chronologically. Indexes, registers, and/or records of registry books (i.e. logs of writs) are usually found at the end of the series.
- Finding aids:
- Inventories are available.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Theological Seminary
