Statutes of Lithuania

Piersy statut VKL - first Statut of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Ruthenia and Samogitia.png|The first page of the First Statute Lithuanian Statute I.jpg|11th chapter of the First Statute, 1529 Statut Vialikaha Kniastva Litoŭskaha, Pahonia. Статут Вялікага Княства Літоўскага, Пагоня (1531).jpg|First page of the Latin copy of Laurentius (1531) of the First Statute Lithuanian statute in Latin, by Augustinus Rotundus, 1576.jpg|The Second Statute in Latin by Augustinus Rotundus, 1576 Statut Vialikaha Kniastva Litoŭskaha. Статут Вялікага Княства Літоўскага (1588).jpg|Page from the Second Statute, 1588 Statut Vialikaha Kniastva Litoŭskaha, Žygimont Vaza. Статут Вялікага Княства Літоўскага, Жыгімонт Ваза (1588).jpg|Page from the Second Statute, 1588 The main purpose of the First Statute was to standardize and unify the law, under one legal code, ending the prominent regional particularism. The unified law was supposed to act as a tool for better political and economic integration of the different regions. The First Statute was drafted in 1522 and came into force in 1529 by the initiative of the Lithuanian Council of Lords. It has been proposed that the codification was initiated by Grand Chancellor of Lithuania Mikołaj Radziwiłł as a reworking and expansion of the Casimir Code. The First Statute consisted of 13 Chapters and was divided into 282 Articles. ==Third Statute==

The Third Statute, described as an "outstanding monument of the legal, literary and linguistic culture", was accepted in 1588 in response to the Union of Lublin, which created the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The main author and editor of this statute was the great Chancellor of Lithuania Lew Sapieha of Ruthenian origin. The statute was the first one to be printed (in contrast to the handwritten statutes before) in the Ruthenian language using the Cyrillic alphabet. Until then, many Russian peasants and even nobles (e.g., Andrey Kurbsky) were fleeing from despotism in the neighboring Tsardom of Russia to Lithuania. The Third Statute consisted of 14 chapters: • Chapter 1. "O parsune nasshoj gospodarskoj" (On the status of Grand Duke of Grand Duchy of Lithuania). • Chapter 2. "O oborone zemskoj" (On legal defence before courts). • Chapter 3. "O volnostyah shlyahetskih i o rozmnozhen'yu Velikogo Knyazstva Litovskogo" (On noble privileges and on the development of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania). • Chapter 4. "O sud'yah i sudeh" (On judges and courts of law). • Chapter 5. "O oprave posagu i o vene" (On bride-prices). • Chapter 6. "O opekah" (On trustees) • Chapter 7. "O zapiseh i prodazheh" (On the conduct of business and taxes). • Chapter 8. "O testamentah" (On last wills and testaments). • Chapter 9. "O podkomoryh v poveteh i o pravah zemlenyh o granicah i mezhah" (On the subcamerarii in counties -ie. officials charged with overseeing land boundaries- and land rights and boundaries). • Chapter 10. "O puschu, o lovy, o derevo bortnoe, o ozera i senozhaty" (On forests, hunting, trees used for honey hunting, on lakes and hayefields). • Chapter 11. "O kgvalteh, o boeh, o golovschinah shlyahetskih" (On violations, fights and punishments of Szlachta) • Chapter 12. "O golovschineh i o navezkah lyudej prostyh i o takih lyudeh i chelyadi, kotoraya ot panov svoih othodit, takzhe o slugah prikaznyh" (On the punishments and compensations of simple people and of such people and journeymen which leave their masters, also on servants). • Chapter 13. "O grabezhah i navezkah" (On theft and robberies). • Chapter 14. "O zlodejstve vsyakogo stanu" (On various frauds and wrong doings). ==Implications and developments==

Copies of the statutes used to be kept in each powiat (district) so they could be used and seen by each person desiring to do so. Attempts by the Lithuanian nobility to limit the power of Lithuanian magnates led to the equalization of laws movement, culminating in the reforms of the election sejm of 1697 (May–June), confirmed in the coronation sejm of September 1697 in the document Porządek sądzenia spraw w Trybunale Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskego. These reforms limited the jurisdiction and competency of several Lithuanian offices, such as those of the hetman, kanclerz (chancellor), marszałek (marshal) and podskarbi (under-treasurer), to equate them with those of the corresponding offices in the Polish crown. Many of these offices at the time were held by members of the Sapieha family, and the changes were at least partly made with a view to reducing their power. The reforms also instituted Polish as the administrative language, replacing Ruthenian, in written documents and court proceedings, contradicting the wording of the Third Statute. The Statutes of Grand Duchy Lithuania were a sign of the progressive European legal tradition, and were cited as precedent in Polish and Livonian courts. Furthermore, they had a major influence on the 1649 encoding of the Russian legal code, Sobornoye Ulozheniye. After forming an association with Poland—including both the dynastic union (1385–1569) and the confederated Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795)—the Lithuanian Statutes were the Grand Duchy's greatest expression of independence. In 1791, efforts were made to change the system and do away with the privileges of the nobility, creating a constitutional monarchy with a modern citizenry (see Constitution of 3 May). However, these plans came to naught when Russia, abetted by Austria and Prussia, partitioned the Commonwealth. On 30 October 1794, Russian empress Catherine the Great reversed all changes of the law approved by the Great Sejm, and mandated use of the Lithuanian Statutes as the applicable law for the conquered Western Krai of Russia. To facilitate the application of the decree translation of the document into Russian was started and took up to 1798. However, the print of this version of the document was swiftly forbidden as the 200-year-old document was seen as more liberal than the contemporary Imperial law. The statutes remained in effect until 1840, when they were outlawed by emperor Nicholas I as part of a reprisals and russification policies after the November Uprising. ==See also==