Affaires de succession de la justice seigneuriale de Pécsvárad dans les années de 1830

Abstract

The purpose of the study. To examine to what extent the operation of the Pécsvárad manor court served the interests of the peasants living in the manor, and to what extent it was necessary to abolish it by the provisions of Article 4 of Act IX of 1848. Applied methods. We have examined the records and related documents of the district’s fiscal and manor court of the Pécsvárad public foundation in the 1830s, which are concerning the inheritance of the peasants. The background of the individual judgments was studied in István Werbőczy’s Tripartitum and especially in the laws of 1836. In addition to the literature on the Hungarian manor court we also reviewed studies on the French manor court. Outcomes. The Pécsvárad manor court met relatively often, with one third of the cases heard being inheritance cases. In examining the most common type of property cases, the arguments of both plaintiffs and defendants gave us an insight into the thinking of the time. The judgments in succession cases showed that the manorial and county officers presiding over the manor court investigated each case carefully, rendered an impartial decision and had the manorial officer, who was familiar with local conditions, to see that it was carried out. A study of the cases of the Pécsvárad manor court raises the need for a more nuanced assessment of the operation of the manor court and, as has been said in French literature, its rehabilitation.