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Court System for Jewish Cases
Court practices used in Poland for cases
involving Jews. In early Polish history, no unified judicial
system for
Jewish cases was developed. This was because there were
differences in
the legal status of Jews, which was influenced by royal,
noble and
Church legislation, as well as by Jewish law as outlined in
the Torah.
The oldest privileges specified that Jews were subject
exclusively to
royal jurisdiction, which was enforced by the voivod in the
king's name
or, in his stead, by a special official known as a Jewish
judge.
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Disputes between Jews and Christians fell under
his jurisdiction, which meant that Jews were excluded from
the
municipal court system. Legal precedents were not always
respected,
however, and Jews were sometimes called before municipal
courts. They
even appeared before the Crown Tribunal, which was the
highest court
instance for the nobility.
In 1539, Sigismund I the Old renounced legal
jurisdiction over Jews
who were living on private lands, transferring it instead to
those
landowners. Disputes between Jews were generally heard by
the Jewish
courts.
(H.W./CM)
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