Decree of King Stephen Báthory resolving a jurisdictional dispute between the Ruthenian nobility and Lwów

STEPHEN, by the grace of God, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, Ruthenia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Kiev, Volhynia, Podlachia and Livonia, etc., Prince of Transylvania. We announce by this our letter to all whom it may concern. Whereas at this General Crown Assembly in Warsaw, before us and the public gathering of all estates and orders of our Kingdom, the noble Herburt of Dziedziłów, standard-bearer of Lwów, Piotr Krasicki, vice-palatine of Przemyśl, Jan Smotrycki, vice-palatine of Przemyśl, Judok Radko, land judge of Halicz, and Stanisław Żelikowski, surrogate of the Bełz starosty, together with other land deputies of the Ruthenian Voivodeship, having to present the instructions of the entire nobility of said voivodeship, both in their own name and in the name of the assemblies held by them for this Crown Assembly, as well as in the name of all other lands and voivodeships of the entire Kingdom, publicly filed a complaint along with a proposal against the illustrious mayor and councilors and the entire commonalty of our city of Lwów. In this complaint, they argued that they [the burghers] should be satisfied with the administration of justice and the resolutions approved during the interregnum by the last confederates [...] against anyone, as well as with the law in ordinary courts, in which the nobility of the Ruthenian Voivodeship excluded municipal persons and laws in their cases, as well as with the new statute (by virtue of which privileges they refuse and, at the request of any persons in these courts, refuse to answer to persons and be satisfied with decrees and judgments, and on the land [...] they refuse to acknowledge), demanding insistently that decrees of this kind in the first place and all proceedings of the intricacies of said courts be maintained in their power and preserved by the force of our judgment and that of the public Assembly, and the said noble defendants to this justice (having heard the previous judgments of the city of Lwów [...]). When the accused deputies and plenipotentiaries of the city of Lwów, summoned to give a proper answer to the submitted charges, replied that their city was founded on ancient laws and privileges according to the municipal Magdeburg law, and the burghers themselves have all their goods incorporated into this civil law and are exempt from any other courts. Furthermore, that they are accustomed to appearing in their own ancient, ordinary, and proper court and legal procedure, and such a process is usually maintained rather by their suit than by summons before our Royal Tribunal. The Crown Statutes [...] do not provide otherwise for the nobility and cities; and this for the sake of justice itself, so as not to violate our royal jurisdiction, to which it was their inviolable right to be subject, as well as by reason of the privilege of the once holy memory of King Władysław Jagiełło, by the power of which the city was united and incorporated not to the voivodeship, but to the Crown of the Kingdom. They pointed out that they never consented to the courts established in this voivodeship, nor did they approve them, nor could they approve them, but always filed protests against them. Holding therefore to the mentioned laws and privileges, they demanded that they themselves and that city be maintained in their ancient laws and courts, and that they be declared free from such ordinary courts and from their proceedings, decrees, and all judgments obtained against them by any persons, expecting at the same time a restoration to the original state (in integrum restitutio) in their cases, in which some obtained default judgments there, as if due to non-appearance. However, the land deputies did not cease to claim that those burghers of Lwów not only subjected cases concerning their persons and goods to the municipal Magdeburg law [...] in a certain way did not seem to be subject to the land court [...]. But since, by the constitution of the general courts enacted during the interregnum, they were subject to them, and furthermore, in the process concerning the possession of land estates, that is, the villages called Zubrza and Sichów, regarding land damages and territories not subject to municipal law, they were sued by the nobility; therefore, they claimed that they are subject to the land law and should answer in it, and also by reason of these delicts and ways, by virtue of the bonds of subjection and the common law of this Kingdom, they are obliged to do so. To which, in turn, the opposing party rebutted the charges, claiming that although they acquired the said villages at the mentioned expense, they have them incorporated into the municipal Magdeburg law by virtue of the privilege of the most serene once King Sigismund Augustus, by our authority, given at the Crown Sejm held in Piotrków in the year of our Lord 1554. After submitting this document, they showed that the incorporation of the said villages [...] after being cancelled under the execution of the laws of the Kingdom by the decree of the General Warsaw Assemblies, was adjudged to the same city, also citing that they had hitherto exercised uninterrupted right of use over them. We, finally, together with our advisors and the present Senate and all the estates and orders of our Kingdom, having diligently considered the motions, proposals, and arguments of the mentioned land deputies, as well as the answers, evidence, protests, and laws submitted to this act by the councilors and burghers of Lwów, by the power of the decree of this Assembly of our Kingdom, we judge and decide: since the said councilors and burghers of Lwów possess the villages called Zubrza and Sichów, lying on the border of the Lwów lands and from their first location founded on land law; although they maintain [...] not only on the basis of their long and continuous use, but also by virtue of the statute of the holy memory of King Sigismund regarding hereditary land estates acquired jointly by cities and their commonalty [...], yet since in the statutes of the Kingdom regarding the granting of such municipal rights and freedoms there is nothing explicitly reserved or decided that it would be permitted to transfer goods from land law to municipal law or to possess them free from military burdens; therefore, so as not to infringe in any way upon the common land law and the laws of the Kingdom, nor for any detriment to occur in the military service from these land estates, we cancel, reject, and forever invalidate this very incorporation of the said villages of Zubrza and Sichów; while preserving, however, other rights, privileges, prerogatives, and the undisturbed possession of these villages belonging to the mayor and councilors of Lwów. And because the councilors and burghers of Lwów themselves, by reason of the existence of that incorporation until this day, not out of audacity but by the power of their privileges, always excluded themselves from land and ordinary courts; and on the other hand, both because of damages to the land and fields, and by reason of council offices or the very sovereignty of the city, whether from persons and goods both public and municipal, and private, they were summoned at the request of various persons before the recently past ordinary courts of the Ruthenian Voivodeship, where, bypassing the law [...] they were harassed by summonses, seizures, and other legal steps, through which, due to their non-appearance, some obtained judgments on their goods, and others a joinder of cases – therefore, in the matter of these various cases, we deemed it proper to decide and resolve as follows, and we hereby decide and resolve: First of all, we judge that all and individual past cases of the same city and of the councilors and burghers of Lwów, whether by the said decrees, settlements, [...] where the mentioned councilors were summoned or where they were and are plaintiffs, resulting from summonses, appeals, regresses, or in any other way conducted, initiated, and obtained by any persons before the mentioned ordinary courts due to the hitherto application of this interpretation, as well as due to the laws and arguments submitted by them because of the lack of consent to the judicial constitution – abolishing them forever and invalidating them – all that which was initiated in these courts should not bring any harm to this our city, persons, or any burgher goods. But all such above-mentioned cases we restore in their entirety (in integrum) to the proper jurisdiction of these burghers and to that point and legal state in which they were before the establishment of the said courts. Finally, we resolve these same cases and all lawsuits in this way: first, those that concern the offices of councilors and burghers, either fall under their proper municipal Magdeburg law, or relate to their persons or goods, whether inside the city, public or private – all these cases we reserve and leave to their own Magdeburg law, and ultimately to our royal court. Those, however, that strictly concern the land of the said rural villages of Zubrza and Sichów and the statutes and regulations of the Kingdom, which were initiated in the land law or will be initiated and will be conducted in the future – all these cases we hereby refer by our judgment to the land law and to the order and process of that law. From now on and for the future, we decide, judge, and declare that the mentioned mayor and councilors of Lwów will indeed remain in peaceful possession of the said villages of Zubrza and Sichów, just as they currently possess them by virtue of their privileges, records, and resignations made for this purpose; however, for such damages and articles from these villages which, by the provision of the laws and statutes of the Kingdom, relate properly to the land law and land, they will be obliged to appear and answer in this same land law, and also to perform the formerly customary military expeditions, being subject to them for all time. Otherwise, if anyone summons someone from the council or bench office, or from among the burgher persons and goods, in any case legally belonging to the municipal Magdeburg law or to the royal court, before a land or general court against the said mayor, councilors, reeve, and jurors [...], then such a case against private persons should always be referred to the proper municipal law and court of Lwów, and against officials in cases touching their rights and privileges – to our Tribunal and Royal Court, in accordance with the laws and general privileges of the same city, which we – apart from the mentioned incorporation, which has been cancelled – hereby recognize by our judgment and that of the same Assembly of the Kingdom as inviolable and valid for all time. In witness whereof, we have signed this letter with our own hand and ordered it to be strengthened with the seal of our Kingdom. Done and given at the General Crown Assembly in Warsaw, on the first day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred and seventy-eight, and the second year of our reign. Stephen, King [signed by hand] Maciej Błoch [?] [Seal:] [Great Crown Seal of Stephen Báthory in a wax bowl, on a multicolored silk cord] [On the reverse:] [Archival note:] Seventh rubric / Letter G, No. 5 [Archival note:] From bundle 26 / No. 49 / No. 50 [Chancery note:] Decree regarding the village of Zubrza and Sichów at the Warsaw Assembly in the year 1578 / of King Stephen / date March 1, 1578. [Other notes:] Alex[...] / No. 14 / 79 Sb / O

STEPHANVS Dei gratia REX Poloniae, magnus Dux Lithuaniae, Russiae, Prussiae, Masoviae, Samogitiae, Kijoviae, Volhiniae, Podlachiae, Livoniaeque etc. Princeps Transylvaniae. Significamus hisce literis nostris quorum interest universis. Quod cum in hoc Regni Conventu generali Varschoviensi coram nobis et publico omnium Statuum atq[ue] Ordinum Regni nostri Conventu Nobilis Herbordus de Dziedziłow Vexillifer Leopoliensis, Petrus Krasitzky Tribunus Premisliensis, Ioannes Smotritzky Tribunus Praemisliensis, Iodoco Radko Iudex Terrestris Haliciensis, et Stanislaus Żelikowsky surrogatus Capitaneatus Belsensis cum caeteris Nuntijs Terrestrilbus Palatinatus Russiae tam suo, instruttione[m] totius Nobilitatis eiusdem Palatinatus exporrecturi, q[uam] etiam Conventuum ad eundem Regni Conventum per eos habitam, nomineq[ue] aliorum Universorum Terrarum et Palatinatuum omnium Regni contra Famosos Proconsulem, et Consules, totiusq[ue] communitatem Civitatis n[ost]rae Leopoldien[sis] querelam simul ac propositionem publice, Qua ipsi contraquoscu[n]q[ue] iustitijs utique contenti esse deberent, ac confutacionibus Anno Interregni per postremos Confederatos laudatis, Terrae n[ost]rae fieri inaeliqua magis ratione affecti, tam legem Iudicijs Ordinarijs in Qvibvs Nobilitas Palatinatus Russiae in suis causis iuris quosq[ue] et personarum Civitatis seclusit, q[uam] etiam Statutum novum (Institiis quibus freti Privilegiis detrectant, et ad instantiam quarumvis personarum in illis Iudicijs personis et respondere atq[ue] Decretis et perlatis con[ten]tos esse, et super terra tourme bene fateretur recusant, petentes instanter Decretis eius modi primum et processus omnes anfractuum eoru[n]dem Iudicio rum, nostroq[ue] et eiusdem Conventu[s] iudicio publicum detineri in suo robore con[servari] debere, q[uam] confutari dictos Generosos Citato ad eandem iusticiam (Auditis necedentibus iudiciis Civitatis Leopoldien[sis] accusatis vero Nuncijs et Plenipotentibus Civitatis Leopoldien[sis] tech licet de premissis obiectis idoneam requisiti ad ea responderent, Civitatem eorum iuribus et Privilegijs antiquis iniure Civili Magdeburgensi esse fundatam: ipsosq[ue] Cives bona omnia eidem iuri Civili habere incorporata, et ab alijs quibusvis Iudicijs esse exemptos. Tum in suo antiquo Ordinario et competenti Iudicium ac Iuris modo fore, et processu huiusm[od]i observari solitis in istis magis suae instantia Quam proprijs apud Regium nostrum Tribunal. Civitates nobilitate statuta [non] Regni disponant et persebere: ob solam autem aquilheitatem ne Iurisditionem nostram Regiam a qua se subiacere fas integrumq[ue] illis non fuit, simul atq[ue] ob divi olim Vladislai Iagielonis Regis Privilegium quo Civitas non in Palatinatu sed lehtus Regni Corona unita et incorporata est, Iolatus Iudicijs in illo Palatinatu constitutis eos nunq[uam] assensisse, nec ea approbasse, aut approbare potuisse: imo in contrarium semper esse protestatos: Ita q[ue] iuribus ralilibus et privilegiatilibus eorundem inhaerendo se et Civitatem illam iuxta iura et iudicia antiqua constituari; ab eiusm[od]i vero Iudicijs Ordinarijs, et ab eorum processibus Decretis et perlatis quibuscunque contra eos per quascunq[ue] personas obtentis liberos pronuntiari. Cvm et Causarum suarum, in quibus ibidem nonnulli quasi in tantumaciam evasiones obtinuerunt in integrum restitutionem fieri expectarent. Terrestris porro Nunctij in eo non in[stiterunt] quod Cives ijsdem Leopoldien[ses] non solum causos respectu personarum et bonorum suoru[m] sub Civili Magdeburgiensi subiec[erunt] [...]a quodam modo Iudicio terrestri non videntur subiacere, habebant inteinelas. Sed quoniam etiq[ue] christianem ex iudiciorum Generalium constitutione sub interregno facto subiacebant, sed etiam processu esse suo possessionis Villarum Terrestrium quae Zubrza et Sichow vocantur de iniurijs q[ue] fundi et Territoribus eiusdem Civili non subiectus per Nobilitatem conventos fuisse; propterea dicebant illos iuri Terrestri subiacere et in eo respondere debere, ad illaq[ue] devictu[m] et post delicta et Calles praefata obvinculo seruitutis tuin communi legi huius Regni teneri. Quibus e contra sit refutantiblis quod licet quidem ullipremissis sumptibus Villas praefatas possideant, eas tamen iuri Civili Magdeburgensi habent incorporatas: in illo Privilegium SERENISSIMI olim SIGISmvndi Avgvsti REGIS Authoritatis n[ost]rae Dat[um] in Comitijs Regni Petricovien[sibus] Anno Domini Millesimo Quingentesimo Quinquagesimo quarto celebratis: quoru[n]mq[ue] producto, detexerant nostram eam dictarum Villarum incorporationem post priorem nullique in luthernum recusavit, et sub exequitione legum REGNI cassatam Decreto Generalium Conventuum Varschovien[sium] esse Civitatis illa adiudicatarium, cursus etiam usum ut habuisse hactenus continuum allegabant. NOS tandem cum Consiliarijs n[ost]ris et insequenti Senatu cum omnibus Statibus et Ordinibus Regni nostri exijs et adnotis praefatorum Nuntiorum Terrestrium instantia propositione, et allegationibus perpensiq[ue] diligenter Consulum ac Civium Leopoldien[sium] responsis, deductionibus, protestationibus, et Iuribus ad actum praesentem reproductis, vigore eiusdem Regni n[ost]ri Conventus Decretum et Terrerig[er]i prelatum decernimus: Ex quo praefati Consules et Cives Leopoldien[ses] Villas Zubrza et Sichow appellatas in Terris Leopoldien[sibus] confinibus atq[ue] a primo sui locatione in iure Terrestri fundatas possident: posse mantineq[ue] sententiam non solum quibus suis, usuq[ue] diuturno ac continuo, sed Statuto etiam DIVI SIGISmvndi REGIS de hereditarijs Terrestrilibus bonis a Civitatibus et Communitatibus earundem in commune obtinendis linbent appeditam [sic?], ut tamen Regni Statutis de concedendis talibus Muricijs et libertatibus ad legem Terrestri in ius Civile transferri, aut a fundus bellicis libere tenere cuisquam liceat nihil tale expressum neq[ue] cautum sit: propterea neiuri communi Terrestri et legibus REGNI aliquid derogetur, neue eliqua seruicij bellici ex ijsdem bonis Terrestribus fiat aliqua diminutio, hanc ipsam Villarum praefatarum Zubrza et Sichow incorporationem cassamus, reprobamus, et annullamus perpetuo: Saluis tamen alijs eorundem PRO Consulibus et Consulum LEOPOLIEN[sium] ac totidem Villas iuribus, Privilegijs, praerogativis vero ac possessionaria integritati eidem reservatis. QVOMAM autem ipsi CON Svles et Cives Leopoldienses in suis et eidem incorporationis ad eamveq[ue] diem existentibus, non timeri sed Privilegiorum suorum vigore, a Iudicijs Terrestribus et Ordinarijs semper sese excipiebant: tum quatenus tam fatione de iniurijs fundi et agrorum Terrestrium quam ex officijs Consularibus vel eius Capitis Civitatis, vel ex eis personas ac bonos tam publicis rebus et Civilibus quam co[n]sumptionibus per omnium personarum instantias, cittationibus, ad proximis anteactis froticio Ordinarijs Palatinatus Russiae evocabantur, ibidemq[ue] spreto [ius] citationum, pignoracionem, aliarumq[ue] instantiarum iidemui ostentabantur, Qvibvs et ipsorum contumaciam, obj quidem in bonis eorum perlatura, alij vero causarum iunctiones obtinebant. Ideo de huiusce modi diuersis causis Ordinatibus fere ita statuendum ac decernendum esse censuimus, vt quidem statuimus et decernimus: quod emprimis causarum anteactarum omnium et singularum eiusdem CIvitatis atq[ue] CON Sulum et Civium LEOPOLIEN[sium] tam perdicta Decreta, trasactiones, nealtes quosuis generaliter professis, siue vbi profati CCON Svles cittati, siue etiam ubi actores sunt et fuerunt, tam cantatombus, quam uelcitationibus moltionibus, appellationibus, regressibus, vel alio quouis modo prouenientes per quascunq[ue] personas ad Iudicijs praefatis Ordinarijs agitates, altentates et obtentos, propter eiusdem interpretationis usum, ab ipsis huiusq[ue] habitum. Et propter iura et Praelationes per eos ratione non factis consensus ad Iudiciariam constitutione recensitos perpetuo cessante et annullando, ea dem omnia in illis Iudicijs inchoato, Civitati illi nostris personisq[ue] et bonis Ciuitatibus omnibus nihil nocere debent: sed omnes huiusmodi supra recensitas causas ad eorundem Civium subuessio propria. Et ad illum punctum feudumq[ue] iuris, in quo ante praefatorum Iudiciorum constitutionem inhaerant, in integrum restituimus. Atq[ue] ac demum easdem causas et actiones omnes secretissimis disponimus: quod primum que vel ad opserum Consulum et Civium officia vel ad ius eorum Civile Magdeburgense compentens, vel ad personas aut ad bona ipsorum, siue intra Civitha publica, siue etiam privata sese extendunt, eas omnes uarijs propris illorum Magdeburgensi, et tandem Regis no iudicio neq[ue] q eosintiem reseruemus ac relinquimus. QVa vero furet fundum praefatorum terrestrium Villarum Zubrza et Sichow et statuta praescriptum Regtulerum REGNI debite concernunt, Equa in iure Terrestri agitan coepta sunt, aut initientur, et postea agitabuntur, eas quoq[ue] omnes ad ius Terrestre, et ad eiusdem Iurisordinem ac processum hac nostra sententia remittimus. A modoq[ue] et deinceps ita statuimus, decernimus, ac declaramus, quod ijsdem PRO CON SvL et Consules LEOPOLIEN[ses] in possessione quidem dictarum Villarum Zubrza et Sichow prout easdem modo possident, vigore suorum Privilegiorum, inscriptionum, et resignationum ad eam rem per eos habitarum, proficite permaneant: de ijsdem tamen Villis pro talibus iniurijs et articulis qui ex praescripto legum et Statutorum REGNI ad ius et ad fundum illum Terrestrem proprie referuntur, non mai in eodem iure Terrestri parem et respondere, tum etiam expeditiones bellicas antiquitus confuetas obire tenebuntur, intraq[ue] ad seripti temporibus perpetuis. SECUS enim obi quis ex officijs CONsvlaribus vel Scabinalibus aut de personis bonisq[ue] in eis ciuibus pro quacunq[ue] causa ad ius Civile Magdeburgense vel ad Iudicium Regium legittime centenente ad summum terrestrem aut ad id ipsum generalem di[c]tos Inconsulem Consules et Advocatum, Scabinos et eiusdem subinensis cheaccatuit, tunc eiufmodi causa contra privatos quidem ad ius et ad ferium ipsorum Civile LEOPOLIENSE competens: contra officiales autem nem causis iura et Privilegia eorum tangentibus, ad Regium nostrum Tribunal et Iudicium remitti semper debebit. Iuxta eiusdem Civitatis iura et Privilegia remiffiam et freque[n]tia, quo nos praeter inorporationem [sic] illi praemissum est cassatam, salua Decretis eisdem perpetuo essefriscimus, hae nostra et eiusdem REGNI Ipsius Conuentus sententia mediante. In cuius rei fidem manu n[ost]ra propria praesentes subscripsimus, et sigillo Regni nostro communiri iussimus. Actum et Dat[um] in Comitijs Regni generalibus Varschoviensibus prima die Martij Anno Domini Millesimo Quingentesimo Septuagesimo Octavo, Regni vero n[ost]ri Anno SECVNDO. Stephanus Rex [manu propria] Matthias Błoch [?] [Pieczęć:] [Wielka pieczęć koronna Stefana Batorego w woskowej misce, na sznurze jedwabnym wielobarwnym] [Verso:] [Nota archiwalna:] Rubrica Septima / Litt. G. No 5to [Nota archiwalna:] Ex Fasc. 26g / N. 49 / N. 50 [Nota kancelaryjna:] Decretum de Villa Zubrza & Sichow in Conventu Wars:[aviensi] Ao 1578. / Stephani regis / d[ata] 1 Martij 1578. [Inne zapiski:] Alex[...] / No 14 / 79 Sb / O