Lutsk Tribunal Activities (1578-1589)

Abstract

The article analyzes the Lutsk TribunalActivities as an appeal court of Volyn province in the period of 1578-1589. The establishment and operation ofLutsk Tribunal, which acted as the highest instance for municipal courts and also for the lawsuits of nobility, testifies to the fact of preserving a significant share of self-reliance and independence of the local community that resisted the processes of Polonization after Lublin Union 1569. The jurisdiction of this of appeal instance spread over Volyn, Bratslav, Kyiv voivodeships and in its activities was guided not by Polish laws but used Lithuanian Statutes, predominantly the Volynian (1566) and New Lithuanian Statute of 1588. The author lays emphasis on the conducting record keeping in Old Russian language that confirm the above- mentioned idea about autonomy of legal system in the Ukrainian voivodeships within Rzecz Pospolita after Lublin Union 1569. Lutsk Tribunal ceased existence in 1589, when the Main Lublin Tribunal had become the highest appeal instance for Volyn, Bratslav and Kyiv voivodeships.