Crown Tribunal in Lublin
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The Crown Tribunal in Lublin was the highest court of appeal of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth for cases of land law for Lesser Poland.[1]
Court's function[edit]
In 1578 at the Warsaw General Sejm a new judicial instance, the Crown Tribunal (Iudicium Ordinarium Generale Tribunalis Regni), was created. King Stefan Batory, as iudex supremus, relinquished his previous powers of the supreme judge in favor of a state court of the nobility. From that time on the supreme (appellate) court for the nobility was the Crown Tribunal.
Only the Crown was subject to the Tribunal under the Constitution of 1578. The meeting places of the Crown Tribunal were: Piotrków for Greater Poland and Mazovia, and Lublin for Lesser Poland. The Tribunal began its sessions in Piotrków, where it held its sessions from the Monday after St. Martin's Day (11 November) until Palm Sunday (Dominica Palmarum). In Lublin, it began its sessions from the Monday after the first Sunday after Easter (Dominica Conductus Paschae) until all the cases brought in a given year were examined, which usually lasted until St. Bartholomew's Day (24 August). However, in 1611 at the Ordinary Sejm in Warsaw a decision was made to "contribute time to the tribunal courts". The constitution of the Convocation Sejm of 1764 divided the Crown Tribunal into two separately existing tribunals that operated simultaneously: the Crown Tribunal of Greater Poland and the Crown Tribunal of Lesser Poland. These changes did not last long. The Extraordinary Sejm at the turn of 1767 and 1768 issued a constitution called „The Union of the Crown Tribunal”, which restored the one Crown Tribunal for both provinces. The Crown Tribunal consisted of judges called deputies, elected annually both from among the nobility, the so-called lay deputies, and the clergy, the so-called clerical deputies. The Tribunal was headed by a marshal elected from among the lay deputies and a president, who was always a deputy of the Gniezno church chapter.
Thanks to the Tribunal, Lublin became the legal center of the First Republic of Poland. With the decline of university centers educating lawyers, it was the tribunal hall that became the university for many barristers; it was here that they took their first steps and gained experience. The proximity of the Zamojski Academy, where law was taught, also had a positive influence on this fact. Lublin attracted candidates to study law not only from the territory of the Republic of Poland, but also from abroad. The role of the Tribunal in the life of the city should also be emphasized. It was thanks to the Tribunal that Lublin not only transformed into a judicial capital but also developed rapidly. Almost immediately after its establishment, palaces of magnates and manors of noblemen started to spring up in Lublin.
Life in Lublin was lively during tribunal sessions. After the loss of independence, the Crown Tribunal in Lublin, as well as other nobility courts of the former Polish government, were closed. The records of the Crown Tribunal in Lublin, kept in the court archives located in the refectory of the Dominican monastery, were transferred to the Bernardine monastery in 1811, and in 1827 to the newly established Archiwum Akt Dawnych (Central Archives of Historical Records) in Lublin. In the years 1836–1840, the entire collection was transferred to the Archiwum Akt Dawnych in Warsaw, where it was completely destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.[2]
History of the building[edit]
The present building of the Crown Tribunal, erected in the Old Town Square in Lublin, replaced the former wooden town hall, burnt in 1389. Initially, the new building served as the town hall, and from 1578 it housed the Crown Tribunal for the nobility of Lesser Poland.
The Gothic building of the former town hall was erected in the 14th century as a wooden structure with two towers and an external staircase. The town hall of that time burnt down in the fire of Lublin in 1389, and the next, bigger, brick building was erected in that place, also in the Gothic style. In the first half of the 16th century, during the reconstruction of the building, it was given a Renaissance look. It was topped with an attic and an external staircase leading to the second floor was added.
After another fire which broke out in Lublin in 1575, the building was rebuilt in the Renaissance style referring to the town halls in Sandomierz and Tarnów. In the 80s of the 17th century, another, this time baroque, reconstruction of the Old Town building took place. A second floor was added and the tower was rebuilt, the Baroque appearance of the building is confirmed by the painting „Fire of Lublin” from 1719, which is currently exhibited in the Dominican Church.
In the years 1781-1787 the Tribunal building was rebuilt to its contemporary appearance according to the design of Dominik Merlini, the court architect of Stanisław August Poniatowski. It was given a classicist appearance, enlarged and almost doubled in size. The second floor was designed for land courts, while the remaining interiors were left unchanged. Entire exterior walls of the Tribunal are decorated with classical pilasters, whereas the tympanum contains a relief depicting a symbol of justice.
A distinctive bas-relief is located at the top of the exterior elevation. The shield in the middle of the relief depicts two coats of arms. One of them is an eagle, which is the symbol of Poland, and the other is the Pahonia, the symbol of Lithuania. There is a crown of Polish kings topped with a cross above the coat of arms. Each side of the coat of arms shows figures of sitting women. One of them is holding a sword and the other a scale - symbols of justice. A lion lies at the feet of one of them. In 1977 the relief was reconstructed.
In the times of Stanisław August, the Tribunal housed an artistic workshop of the royal painter Marcello Bacciarelli, the so-called Bacciarelliówka. Plans were made to open the first Polish academy of fine arts in the building.[3]
Among numerous paintings currently stored in the Tribunal building is a portrait of King Stefan Batory and a portrait of Stanisław Małachowski, the Marshal of the Four-Year Sejm.
Currently, the former Crown Tribunal building houses the Wedding Palace, and in the basement - the former wine cellar and prison - the Lublin Underground Route. Cultural events, including music concerts, are also held here, some rooms are occupied by the „Museum of History of the Town Hall and the Crown Tribunal”.
Devil's Paw[edit]
A Lublin legend, which has its confirmation in historical sources, based around the Crown Tribunal in Lublin. One of its versions says that in 1637 or 1638 a trial of a widow took place in the Lublin Tribunal. The litigant was a magnate who bribed the judges. The distraught widow raised her hands to the crucifix hanging in the courtroom and cried out: "If the devils were judging, they would give a fairer verdict!". The same night mysterious figures appeared in the courtroom, dressed in żupans (noblemen uniforms) and wearing black wigs. The scribe, who was taking notes of the trial, noticed horns hidden under the wigs and smelled sulfur. The devils passed the sentence in favor of the woman, and to seal it, the devilish judge leaned on the table with his hand, burning a handprint into the wood. At that moment, the Christ on the crucifix in the courtroom turned his head away so as not to see the devil's judgments being more just than man's. The Tribunal Cross can still be found in one of the chapels in the Lublin Archcathedral, and the table with a burned-out devil's paw, dating from before 1578, is displayed at the Castle Museum in Lublin.
References[edit]
- ↑ "Geneza trybunału koronnego. Studyum z dziejów sądownictwa polskiego XVI wieku (pol.). Oswald Balzer". Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Ustanowienie Trybunału Koronnego – 1578 r. – Archiwum Państwowe w Lublinie". Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Staromiejski Pałac Ślubów znów zaprasza". Unknown parameter
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