Öröklődő elköteleződések és jogosultságok a székely közösségekben

Abstract

Inherited Commitments and Rights in the Szekler Communities Studying 18-19th century archival written documents of Székely village communities and parishes, the lucky and attentive researcher can find agreements and settlements that testify to inheritable commitments and acquisition of rights between an individual and a community. The commitment could be made from the point of view of an individual and his descendants, as well as from the point of view of the community. The same can be said about the accrual of a right. Good examples of the individual's commitment are provided by the contracts that perpetuate one way of maintaining and operating the old village gates, in which the village community ensured the performance of the task by donating a piece of land. For the received land, the entrepreneur also undertook the obligation on behalf of his descendants "from heir to son, from survivor to survivor", to take care of, supervise, i.e. "maintain" the village gate. Decades later, this kind of commitment appeared as a living legal custom in the minds of the people of the village. ("The Hajdús, who keep the gate".) The commitment of the community to an individual and his descendants occurred in cases where the individual supported the currently needy community with a relatively large amount (donation of money, land) and thereby acquired inheritable rights. For example, a resident of foreign origin ("Romanian religion"), but wishing to integrate, gave considerable money to the Catholic Szekler religious community for the purchase of a bell, for which the community promised that the new bell would be rung for him and their descendants as well. Such entitlement became natural after decades, as the illing individual soon integrated into the Székely community through the mutual gesture.