LDK pavieto žemės teismų funkcija – tarp notariato ir teismo (iki 1588 m.) (lietuviškų pavietų atvejis)

LTLDK pavietų žemės teismų knygos yra menkai ištirtos. Tyrimo tikslas ir uždaviniai – išnagrinėti kai kurių LDK pavietų žemės teismų knygų sandarą ir nustatyti jų notarinių bei teisminių dalių santykį. Straipsnyje nagrinėjamas rankraštinių Kauno, Upytės, publikuotų Slanimo ir aprašytų Žemaitijos žemės teismo knygų pobūdis, formuluojama sisteminė knygų tyrimo galimybė. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Žemės teismai; Žemės teismų knygos; Statutai; Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė (LDK; Grand Duchy of Lithuania; GDL); Didikai ir magnatai; 16 amžius; Land courts; Land court books; Statutes; Nobility.

ENDistrict (powiat) land courts in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) were founded in the course of the court and administrative reform in 1564–1566. Their functions and purpose were stipulated in the Second Statute of Lithuania (1566). Formally, land courts crowned the victory of the Lithuanian small and medium-sized nobility over the lords (magnates) who were at the very top of the nobility class. The new land courts symbolised the self-government of the GDL nobility in the judicial sphere. However, the analysis of the district land court books dating right after 1566 shows their two-fold type. The notarial function, which used to significantly overshadow the procedural-legal side of the court, started to play a crucial role in the activities of the land court. The books of land court, which have survived to this day, vary by the content and type of their records. Some are predominated by notarial records, while others abound in legal-procedural ones. Financial operations – purchase and sale, pledge and mortgage – play a very important role in notarial records, whereas books of other type include not only court judgements (they are not numerous), but also complaints of the parties to the proceedings, reports of bedels (woźny) on their work (introduction of new owners to the property, delivery of writs of summons, endorsement of complaints and damages at the scene, etc.).The growing number of notarial records in land court books shows the development and improvement of the legal culture of the ruling noble representatives of the nation, because written evidence became the main type of evidence in court. It also implies that district land courts brought ordinary Lithuanian nobles closer to writing and legal culture and changed their mentality. The article presents a scheme of a systematic study of the contents of court books and justifies the main postulates of the study of such type. By separating the records of notarial and procedural type, the study attempts to show a multi-fold image of the functioning of land courts in individual regions. [From the publication]