"Coffee with a Historian" invites to a round table discussion on court and law in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
On June 21 at 15:00, a round table discussion "Court and Law in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the second half of the 13th - 18th century" will be held at the Museum of Free Belarus in Warsaw (Foksal 11).
Justice was one of the most important components and attributes of political power, a means of direct communication and interaction between the said power and society. The proper/improper execution of judicial function determined the authority and legitimacy of this power, the degree of loyalty of society, various communities and social groups towards it, provoked social and political movements, intellectual and polemical discourses, and the adoption of important political decisions.
Such was the significance of the judicial system in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania throughout its entire existence. There are reasons to believe that the judicial function became one of the most important factors in the territorial growth of this state, the integration of its lands and various communities (from the point of view of culture, religion, and ideologies) into a single political system, and internal transformations that led to the emergence in 1569 of a new political entity — the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which united the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for a long time.
- How did the judicial systems of countries that existed in the Middle Ages and early modern period differ from modern ones?
- What was the specificity of the courts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, compared to the courts of other neighboring countries?
- Which courts did the nobility, as the "political nation" of the Grand Duchy, consider ideal?
- How did the Tribunal of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania emerge and what was its significance for the nobility?
- How did the changing and complex judicial system of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania work in the second half of the 13th — 18th century.
Participants of the round table Aliaksandr Hrusha, Andrei Matsuk, and Andrei Radaman will try to answer these and other questions.
The focus will be on the court of the Grand Duke and the lords of the council, city and land courts, the assessor's court, the Tribunal of the Grand Duchy, as well as other judicial institutions.
The broadcast and recording of the meeting will be available on the YouTube channel.