The judicial system of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The judicial system of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is a system of specialized public authorities ( courts ) that administer justice in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania .

Sources of law until the XVI century were Old Russian law ( Russian Truth ), local customs and judicial feudal practice. At the end of the XIII century, written law arose in the form of letters ("sheets"), letters, grand princes privileges . In 1468, a judge was created. At the beginning of the 16th century, one of the first systematic codes of laws was introduced in Europe - the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , which passed three editions - 1529 , 1566 and 1588 (the last edition was valid in Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine until 1840).

With the spread of serfdom, the right of patrimonial court arose among the landowners; at first only the Catholic landlords enjoyed this right, but since 1457 it has been extended to everyone, and some criminal offenses, including arson and rape, have been removed from the estate court.

The judicial authorities of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ( castle court , patrimonial court, sub-maritime court , grand-princely court and others) were of a class nature. In some localities, according to tradition, there were mock courts , which, in the opinion of Matvey Lyubavsky , represented the development and modification of the practice of the existence of the “ truths ” of the Russian Truth and arose on the basis of the circular responsibility of local societies for their members and the resulting power over them. The boundaries of the outskirts of the outskirts did not coincide with the boundaries of the volosts, but had an independent origin, natural or artificial. The mock courts acted when the victim called roundabout residents to determine which of them was a criminal, in addition, they solved some civil offenses between neighbors ( injuries ), and their decisions, as a special type of amicable proceedings, were mandatory. However, the mock courts, although of a democratic nature, were under the control of the local administration.

The judiciary in state estates, given in “holding” to private individuals, belonged to these persons (governors), called holders or former tyunami . When sending their posts, the holders received different incomes, and the estates given to the holdings were considered as “feeding”. When they were appointed to the post, they, like other officials, paid the Grand Duke "petition", so that in the 15th century the appointment to the post received the character of a kind of sale. Viceroyances were heard “for a year”, “to the sovereign’s will”, but more often “to the stomach” (that is, for life), and often passed with the consent of the Grand Duke and by inheritance.

Some of the districts were not distributed to the control of the powers, but directly subordinate to the governors and elders who were in the main cities and owned volosts on the same grounds as the powers. They received their voivodship and headman for life or until their appointment to another position.

The patrimonial court was introduced by the privilege of 1447 , then by the Statutes . Considered mainly cases based on local customs or the owner of the patrimony, arbitrarily determining the punishment. Court proceedings were usually conducted by sotskie.

In 1468, the Grand Duke Casimir published the “Code of Laws” , which is mainly a set of sentences for the tatba in its various forms. The private law view of the crime as the damage caused to the individual predominates, but the signs of the emerging state view are already visible (a thief cannot be released from punishment to which he is sentenced). The punishments imposed in the Judicial Code are very severe - the death penalty in the form of hanging was used quite often. The first systematic set of written laws drawn up in 1529 is called the First Statute .

Prior to the publication of the Statute of 1529, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania did not have an instance procedure for considering cases; each nobleman could apply directly to the Grand-Ducal court. Cases in it were considered by the Grand Duke and the Panas . By the statutes and the resolution of the Sejm of 1542 and 1551, the Grand-Ducal court was determined by the highest court. At the first instance, he examined cases on charges of conspiracy and treason, crimes and abuses of officials, the unauthorized seizure of state estates, lands and profits, cases of belonging to the nobility. As an appellate court, I examined complaints against decisions of castle, zemstvo, sub-maritime, and military courts .

In 1566, zemstvo and sub-sea courts were created in the districts and voivodships, the members of which were elected by the gentry.

Castle (Grodsky) court was in the castle (town, city). Considered cases of the most serious crimes, also testified to transactions, provided decisions of other courts.

The Zemsky court examined criminal and civil cases, executed notarial acts, and recorded complaints about the unlawful actions of governor officials. He was elected by the nobility of the local gentry, who knew the right and had estates. Zemstvo court sessions were convened three times a year. The legal proceedings were conducted in accordance with the Bielski Privilege of 1564 and the Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

A sub-sea court examined cases of land disputes. The subcomory , the Komornik and the clerk inspected the disputed land, listened to the testimonies of their neighbors, made a decision and determined the boundaries. Complaints against court decisions were examined by the Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania .

The cities that enjoyed Magdeburg law , which began to infiltrate the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the end of the 14th century from Poland, had a special judicial situation. The essence of Magdeburg law was the exemption of citizens from certain state taxes and duties and from the jurisdiction of government officials, with the exception of the most important criminal offenses. In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Magdeburg law was strongly truncated, the self-government of cities was severely limited. According to Magdeburg law, there were two colleges in the city - radets and shopkeepers. The first, among other things, led a civil court, the second, among 12 members, under the chairmanship of the vojt, made decisions on criminal cases (the Vojtovo-Lavnitsky court ). The established order was often violated: the number of radts and shopkeepers changed, the voit also led the radts; sometimes colleges merged into one institution - the magistrate . So the cities of Polotsk , Mogilev and Orsha achieved the unification of the court of shopkeepers and the Burmeister-Radetsky court.