Regionai ir jų privilegijos Lietuvos Didžiosios Kunigaikštystės gyvenime (XV a.–XVI a. vidurys)

ENA tradition has emerged within historiography to look at the privileges of regions as the sources of the characteristics of regional legal norms and the impact they had on the common law of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the Statutes of Lithuania). However, in the nature and development of these privileges lie the inadequacies of the legal norms of the Lithuanian monarchy hereditary region (Lithuania) and the law traditions of annexed regions. In this article, it is proposed to look at the regional privileges from the positions of Lithuania as a separate region. The phenomenon of regional privilege is partly perceived as a product of certain strong communities with specific political and legal traditions, such as Samogitia, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Smolensk, Volhynia, Kiev, maybe Navahrudak. Those privileges were acquired after the baptism of Lithuania. Although the regional privileges were heavily influenced by Polish law, it faced local traditions in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. As a result, most of the regional privileges of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania are, as documents, characterized by specifics not similar to those of the Kingdom of Poland and Moscovia. After the adoption of the First Statute of Lithuania, regional privileges did not lose their significance, as they included the right to define regional self-government. An analysis of the rights of self-government shows not only the specifics of the regions, but also the assurance of the certain prerogatives of Lithuania’s ruler. [From the publication]