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Judicial Archives (13th century–1869)
Archives of the Curia (Supreme Court)
Section "O"
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This section contains a total of 12 groups of fonds and a few separate record units concerning the activities of Hungarian and Transylvanian central courts between 1526 and 1869.
Archives of the Curia (Supreme Court)
Years: 14th-19th centuries
Extent: 625,83 linear meters
From 1723 the highest forum of the Hungarian jurisdictional organisation was the Royal Curia. It was the composition of two central courts: the Septemvirate and the Royal Court of Justice. The Septemvirate functioned as a court of appeal. The Royal Court of Justice served as a court of first instance in legal actions brought by the Treasury in cases concerning entailment and bullying and, after 1791, in disloyalty and forgery cases. It served as court of appeal in civil and criminal cases submitted by district courts.
Language: Latin and German and to some extent Hungarian
Years: (1449) 1652-1869;
Extent: 34,82 linear meters
The Archives of the Personalis includes the records of the Royal Personalis, the Lord Chief Justice of the Personalis and the Council of the Personalis. The Personalis performed national notarial activities and played an important role in the organisation of lawyers training. The Council of Personalis functioned as a court of appeal; it had jurisdiction primarily over civil cases.
Language: Latin and German and to some extent Hungarian
Archives of the Protonotary of the Palatine
Years: 1650-1848
Extent: 10,50 linear meters
The competence of the Master Notary of the Palatine included a wide range of national notarial activities concerning cases in civil law. Besides, in the 16th-18th centuries, the Master Notary had a certain independent judicial competence as well.
Language: Latin and to some extent Hungarian
Archives of the Protonotary of the Lord Chief Justice
Years: 1663-1863
Extent: 11,15 linear meters
The competence of the Master Notary of the Lord Chief Justice and the structure of his archives is the same as that of the Palatine's Master Notary.
Archives of the Tavernicus
Years: 1559-1849
Extent: 42,47 linear meters
The Council of the Tavernicum Magister served as the Supreme Court of Appeal for the citizens of the royal free boroughs (libera regia civitas). The most of the cases heard by the Council were testamentary, right of inheritance or a suit between joint heirs.
Language: Latin and to some extent Hungarian
Archives of the Transylvanian Royal Court of Appeal
Years: 1725-1848
Extent: 0,37 linear meters
The archival material of the court was almost entirely destroyed by the fire of 1945. The remaining records are preserved in this archives. Besides the 'processus productionalis' (questioning the nobility) cases it contains records of lawyers and protonotaries.
Archives of the Cisdanubian District Court
Years: (1717) 1724-1869
Extent: 115,30 ilnear meters
Archives of the Transdanubian District Court
Years: 1640-1724 (1870)
Extent: 82,14 linear meters
Archives of the Cis-Tiszanian District Court
Years: 1724-1861
Extent: 4,57 linear meters
Archives of the Trans-Tiszanian District Court
Years: 18th-19th centuries
Extent: 103,25 linear meters
As part of the court reform of 1723 four District Courts were established with their seats in Nagyszombat, Kőszeg, Eperjes and Nagyvárad. The District Courts functioned as courts of first instance. Appeals against their decisions could be lodged to the Royal Court of Justice. The competence of the District Courts included the cases that earlier belonged to the protonotaries.
Language: Latin and to some extent Hungarian
Archives of the Age of Absolutism
Years: 1849-1864
Extent: 6,51 linear meters
This archives contains the fragmentary material of the Ministry of Justice (Justizminiterium) that operated between 1850 and 1860, as well as the documents of the Oberster Gerichts- und Cassationshof.
The material of the Bach age was almost entirely destroyed by the fire of 1956. The remaining records are preserved in this archives. The burnt or scorched documents cannot be researched because of preservations reasons.
The fire of 1956 destroyed the major share of the judicial documents. The remaining documents also cannot be researched because of preservation reasons.
Language: German
Archives of the Age of Provisory and Dualism
Years: 1861-1869;
Extent: 13,63 linear meters
The Office of the Lord Chief Justice, the Royal Curia and the Supreme Court of Transylvania were restored in 1861, but only small fragments of their material survived the fire of 1956.
The records of the Office of the Lord Chief Justice in relatively good condition are preserved in their original order, while the records of other organs are mixed and disarranged.
Lanuguage: Hungarian
The fonds that do not belong to formal archives consist of pieces broken away from their original record units which perished during the siege of Budapest in 1945, various collection type document series, archival legacies from the 19th-20th century and notes on judicial archives. The material is arranged by subject.
Language: Latin, German and Hungarian.
In the material of the Judicial Archives descriptive inventories, manuscript lists and indexes of the period aid research.
