Cadastral registers, criminal and civil cases of the court of Baia Mare

Collection

Holding institution:: Maramureş County division of the Romanian National Archives

Holding institution (official language):: Arhivele Naţionale. Direcţia judeţeană Maramureş

Postal address:: Bulevardul Bucureşti 26, Baia Mare 430052, judeţul Maramureş

Title:: Cadastral registers, criminal and civil cases of the court of Baia Mare

Title (official language):: Judecătoria mixtă Baia Mare. Inventarul dosarelor de carte funciară, al dosarelor penale şi civile

Extent:: 6,500 cadastral files, 3,366 criminal and civil files; 166 registers

Scope and content:: This fonds comprises the cadastral registers, registers of records and the files of criminal and civil cases from 1850 to 1950 of the court of Baia Mare. The cadastral registers list for each locality the real estate properties of the inhabitants, including any changes from year to year due to court decisions on succession cases, sales and purchases, confiscations for debts or expropriations. Substantial changes occurred in the properties of this area which was under the authority of the court of Baia Mare as a result of the agrarian reforms of 1921 and 1945, which implemented the expropriation of estates larger than 100 hectares in 1921 and of 50 hectares in 1945, the land being distributed mostly to those with properties under 5 hectares. In these cadastral registers appear Jewish properties from the Maramureş area and their destinies during the agrarian reforms and the antisemitic legislation of the time of the Second World War.

The criminal and civil cases refer to trials for criminal offences, thefts, burglary, divorce and evacuation, with many of the witnesses and lawyers as well as perpetrators of financial fraud cases being Jewish.

The fonds also includes registers of correspondence, registers of records and registers of successional records.

Archival history:: The fonds was originally held by the City Hall of Baia Mare, then transferred to the court of Baia Mare before being transferred again to the Maramureş County division of the Romanian National Archives, where it was inventoried and made accessible to researchers.

Administrative/biographical history:: The first mention of a court of justice in Baia Mare appears in 1437, with it having authority exclusively over the inhabitants and territory of the mining town of Baia Mare with substantial powers including the death penalty. Immediately after the 1848-1849 revolution the Imperial-Royal Court of Baia Mare was founded with a criminal and civil section and a special department for cadastral cases. in 1876, in accordance with Austro-Hungarian legislation, it was decided to establish a Royal Court in Baia Mare which had jurisdiction over 38 localities in Maramureş county. In the period between the First and Second World Wars this court’s activity was reorganised according to Romanian legislation, while between 1940 and 1944 the Hungarian legal system was reintroduced. After the Second World War, the Romanian judicial framework functioned again according to the model of the inter-war period until 1948 when it was reorganised by the Communist regime. The cadastral registers were prepared in the second half of the 19th century when land properties were measured and registered, with each change since then being introduced according to the decisions of the Court.

System of arrangement:: The fonds is arranged into files by locality. The cadastral registers within each list the properties of each inhabitant in alphabetical order, recording the changes every year. The files of criminal and civil cases are also arranged by locality and within them in chronological order.

Finding aids:: Inventories No. 321, 322, 674, 761 and 764, held by the Maramureş County division of the Romanian National Archives.

Yerusha Network member:: Romanian Institute for the Research of National Minorities

Author of the description:: Anton Dörner (retired researcher), Ladislau Gyémánt (emeritus professor) 2018