District Court (Baltic States)

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The district courts in the former Baltic States , which included Estonia , Courland and Livonia with Ösel , were the successors to the peasant and community courts from 1632 to 1918. After the peasant liberation between 1816 and 1891 , the peasant court was replaced by the community court. This resulted in the following channels of authority : In Livonia from the municipal court to the parish court and then to the district court; in Courland from the municipal court to the district court; in Estonia from parish court to district court.

history

In 1632, the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf (1594-1632) initiated a judicial reform in Sweden and its Baltic provinces . The jurisdiction of the landlords over their peasant class was thus abolished. The newly created courts of first instance, at which the peasants could also file suit against the landlords, were four district courts in Livonia and three men’s courts in Estonia , which pronounced justice according to the generally applicable laws . The members of these courts were appointed by the government from among the local nobility .

District courts in Estonia

Estonia was under Swedish rule from 1561 and under Russian rule from 1710. With the Peace of Nystad in 1721, it was largely assigned to the Russian Empire under Tsar Peter the Great (1672–1725). The Estonians continued to enjoy the privileges they had enjoyed under the Swedish crown. The Livonian Knighthood had confirmed the surrender , on the basis of which Estonia's constitutional law existed from 1721 to 1918. The provincial authorities of Estonia included the provincial courts, of which in each district there was one court, three male courts, the rural orphan court and one higher regional court. The higher regional court consisted of the district council . The members of the district courts, the male courts and the rural orphans' court were elected for six years, those of the district council for life. The district court was headed by a district judge , assisted by two assessors . They were elected in the state parliament for a three-year term. There were also two assessors , who were also elected from the parish courts for three years. The district court was the first instance for lawsuits against all non-taxable persons. It was the second instance in all complaint and appeal cases by parish courts . His further jurisdiction included convictions for misconduct, up to the penalty of impeachment . The district court was also the chief guardianship authority for farmers and confirmation office for the acquisition of farm land.

District courts in Courland

In contrast to Estonia and Livonia, which came under Russian ownership in 1721, Courland remained under Polish feudal rule until 1795 . It was the Courland state parliament that decided to replace Poland and in 1795 submitted to the Russian Empire. Thus Courland became a Russian province, whose constitution of 1768 was confirmed and continued. As the state authorities of the Duchy of Courland and Zemgale , each of the five districts had a high court and the high court. The district courts in Courland were identical to the main courts . The members of the district courts and the higher court, like the other judges in Courland, were elected for life. The following procedure took place: At first only the assessors of the Hauptmanns- and Oberhauptmannsgerichte were appointed. From these, the judges of the Hauptmanns- and Oberhauptmannsgerichte were elected and from the latter the judges in turn appointed to the Oberhofgericht according to age.

District courts in Livonia and Ösel

Livonia had also been under Russian rule since 1710 and also went to the Russian Empire with the Peace Treaty of Nystadt. They also retained the privileges they had received under Swedish rule. The regional courts and the court court were the regional authorities of the Duchy of Livonia in each of the five districts. The members of the district courts were elected for 6 years, those of the court court for life. In essence, it was structured in the same way as in Estonia and also had the same tasks in the case law. Complaints about resolutions of the parish assemblies and committees went to the parish court and from then on to the district court. In Livonia special regulations applied to the island of Ösel, so Ösel had its own knighthood and an independent state parliament, which resided in Arensburg. The Ösel district court was structurally, personally and functionally related to that of the Livonian district courts.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peasant courts were courts in the country in the Middle Ages, which were staffed with a master builder (home burghers) as chairman and with 5 to 6 farmer comrades as assessors and decided on minor legal disputes. In: Legal Lexicon [1]
  2. ↑ Municipal court in the Baltic States. In: balt-hiko.de. Baltic Legal Dictionary, accessed March 10, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Parish Court in the Baltic States. In: balt-hiko.de. Baltic Legal Dictionary, accessed March 10, 2017 .
  4. ^ Jan Peters (ed.), Manorial societies in European comparison , new edition, Verlag Walter de Gruyter , 1997, ISBN 978-3-05-007405-4 ; compare: Collection of the laws that preserve today's Livonian land law, edited in a critical way, Vol. II - Older Land Laws, Section I - State Regulations from the year 1680 to 1710, Riga 1821, p. 1264. ( Preview in Google book search)
  5. ^ Constitutional law of the Duchy of Estonia from 1721 to 1918
  6. ↑ ibid.
  7. ^ Constitutional law of the Duchy of Courland from 1795 to 1918
  8. ↑ Herbord Karl Friedrich Bienemann von Bienenstamm: New geographical-statistical description of the imperial-Russian governorate of Courland: or the former duchies of Courland and Semgallia, with the Pilten pen , publisher Ernst A. Pfingsten, Verlag GA Reyher, 1841, original from Bayerische Staatsbibliothek , Page 59 *) Note ( preview in Google Book search)
  9. ^ Constitutional law of the Duchy of Courland from 1795 to 1918
  10. ^ Constitutional law of the Duchy of Estonia from 1721 to 1918
  11. ^ Constitutional law of the Duchy of Livonia from 1721 to 1918
  12. ↑ ibid.