Szeben szék falubírái. Falu és város viszonya a 16. századi hatósági rendszabályok tükrében
Village Judges of Szeben Szék (Stuhl Hermannstadt): The Relationship of Town and Village through the Lens of Sixteenth-Century Official Regulations

Summary/Abstract: The study demonstrates changes in the jurisdiction of village courts in Szeben szék (Stuhl Hermannstadt), effected by official regulations at the end of the sixteenth century. It analyses the standardized texts of the 1582 regulations of the villages of Oltszakadát (Săcădate/Sakadat), Felek (Avrig/Freck), and Oroszcsűr (Ruscior/Reußdörfchen), issued by the town of Szeben. She argues that the official regulations did not primarily serve law and order in the local communities concerned, rather, they were designed to extend the official powers of the municipality to the villages in its jurisdiction.The study contrasts the regulations issued for the villages with the town’s efforts regarding its own regulation pertaining to public administration, use of borders, the right of establishment, public order, ecclesiastic discipline, marriage regulations, as well as usufructuary and farming rights. Here the paper also provides an overview of the changes effected in the jurisdiction of the village judges elected by the local governments, and the ways in which the remit and powers of village judges, as well as the procedure of adjudication, were eventually fixed. Two components of official monitoring are especially notable: the subordination of the village judges’ jurisdiction to the town administration on one hand, and the strict municipal control of the disposal of property on the other, both of which affected the later development of the society of Transylvanian Saxon lands.

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