engleski

The growth of procedural law in the fourteenth century Dalmatian city communes: civil judicial practice in Zadar

Legal historiography of the Middle Ages is mainly focused on the study of various aspects of criminal justice. This paper, in contrast, aims at contributing to the research of medieval civil judicial practice in the fourteenth century where procedural law played a considerable role in solving civil suits. This phenomenon is significant in a wider Mediterranean context. To prove charges was no longer enough for successful completion of litigation. The same attention and energy was dedicated to the procedural law which ensured legitimacy of the legal system and the ruling elites. I chose Dalmatian city commune of Zadar as a starting point because of its extant judicial records from the second half of the 14th century, the only one surviving in more representative size from the eastern Adriatic coast before 15th century. The paper deals with the period between 1358 and 1409, a period of king's supreme authority over the whole Dalmatia including, of course, Zadar as a kind of Dalmatian capital. This is the period of significant changes in Zadar's organization of judiciary, possibilities of appeal, and administering overall court records. All of these changes had an impact on the behavior and actions of the consumers of the courts. Accordingly, the paper discusses the impact of procedural law over consumers of the courts. As procedural law starts to play decisive role as an element of the trial's regularity, consumers of the courts increasingly start appointing lawyers to tackle their cases. The paper also deals with the ways litigants presented their claims to the courts and with their maneuvering procedures to steer courts decisions in their favor. These problems are considered on two levels. First of all, attention is given to the ways litigants maneuvered through local municipal judicial system. On the other hand, attention is on litigants preparing documentation for appeal, either to the king's court or to the colleges of the Italian universities.

late middle ages, Eastern Adriatic, procedural law

nije evidentirano