Арганізацыя і дзейнасць канфедэрацкіх судоў на землях Вялікага Княства Літоўскага ў 1792-1793 гг

ENDuring the period from May, 1792 to September, 1793 the functions of political power on the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland were implemented by the institutions of the Targowica confederation. Its formation (with a decisive participation of Russian army) stopped the functioning of the habitual state institutions, including the Four-Year (1788– 1792) Sejm, all decisions of which were declared illegitimate by the members of the Targowica confederation. Replacement of the old state institutions with the new, emergency institutions, concerned also legal proceedings and took place among a significant increase in the number of offenses: increasingly frequent attacks on the estate of gentry (szlachta), robbery, illegal migration, various social conflicts, most of which were caused by reasons other than politics. In this paper the order and conditions of activity of confederation courts of first instance in the voivodeship and powiat capitals is investigated. The leaders of movement of Targowica ordered to create such courts instead of the ordinary courts, charging the judge functions to the marshals (presiding judge), consuls (friend of the court) and scribes of confederations. The courts had the right to work, only when they consisted of three or more persons. As usual six consuls of local confederation divided into the groups of two, in order to be in session with marshal and scribe in rotation. Decisions (judicial and administrative) confederates took by a large majority. Process in court, as a rule, was following the claim (manifest), entered by injured party. After the claim of injured was accepted by the court to consider, the case was moved to the one of the court registries (lists). When judicial contest took place between the representatives of local gentry, two persons from the composition of court were assigned to represent the interests of the parties during the inquiry.To investigate cases involving subjects of the Russian Empire, the local confederation sent one consul, and interests of the other party were represented by Russian officer. Among the common forms of punishment in the courts of confederation were fine, imprisonment, whipping. The courts had the right to sentence to death, but papers don’t show that this form of punishment was actively used by members of confederation. Courts of the Targowica confederation had more judicial powers compared to courts of confederations that had existed earlier; nevertheless they didn’t manage to stabilize the political and criminogenic situation in the country. Throughout the existence of Targowica Confederation there was a gradual reduction in powers of its judicial institutions, which was connected with the restitution of the country’s previous authorities. Cessation of activity of the courts of Targowica Confederation on the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania occurred in two stages: first on the territory attached to the Russian Empire in April 1793, and then on the remaining territory on the 15th of September, 1793 according to the decision of the Grodno Sejm.