The twentieth century is an era of pervasive turmoil. There were two cataclysmic full-scale wars and many wars and conflicts of lesser importance in all parts of the world. The term crisis is among the most widely used verbal symbols of turmoil in politics among nations. Scholars and journalists, too, often write about such things as incidents, disputes, riots, and rebellions etc. as crisis. In short, crisis is a pervasive term to describe dis ruption and disorder in the global arena. Many political scientists have been researching this phenomenon of international system but there is still a need for new researches and analysis of crisis in world politics. New technological tools and data-sets enable further development of analytical aspects of crisis theory: eruption of conflictual situations, context and reasons of crisis escalation and de-escalation, decision making process etc. The main reason impelled to write this article is the lack of integral theory on crisis issues. That is why the main objective of this study is to make a quantitative and comparative research of the crisis in the 20th century in order to highlight the main influential factors of this process in different time and space dimensions. A quantitative and comparative analysis in this article was performed using International Crisis Behavior (ICB) data-set of international crisis (by the SPSS 12.0 package). The results of the research confirm the presumption that the analysis of different "levels" provides different outcomes.[.].
The twentieth century is an era of pervasive turmoil. There were two cataclysmic full-scale wars and many wars and conflicts of lesser importance in all parts of the world. The term crisis is among the most widely used verbal symbols of turmoil in politics among nations. Scholars and journalists, too, often write about such things as incidents, disputes, riots, and rebellions etc. as crisis. In short, crisis is a pervasive term to describe dis ruption and disorder in the global arena. Many political scientists have been researching this phenomenon of international system but there is still a need for new researches and analysis of crisis in world politics. New technological tools and data-sets enable further development of analytical aspects of crisis theory: eruption of conflictual situations, context and reasons of crisis escalation and de-escalation, decision making process etc. The main reason impelled to write this article is the lack of integral theory on crisis issues. That is why the main objective of this study is to make a quantitative and comparative research of the crisis in the 20th century in order to highlight the main influential factors of this process in different time and space dimensions. A quantitative and comparative analysis in this article was performed using International Crisis Behavior (ICB) data-set of international crisis (by the SPSS 12.0 package). The results of the research confirm the presumption that the analysis of different "levels" provides different outcomes.[.].
The twentieth century is an era of pervasive turmoil. There were two cataclysmic full-scale wars and many wars and conflicts of lesser importance in all parts of the world. The term crisis is among the most widely used verbal symbols of turmoil in politics among nations. Scholars and journalists, too, often write about such things as incidents, disputes, riots, and rebellions etc. as crisis. In short, crisis is a pervasive term to describe dis ruption and disorder in the global arena. Many political scientists have been researching this phenomenon of international system but there is still a need for new researches and analysis of crisis in world politics. New technological tools and data-sets enable further development of analytical aspects of crisis theory: eruption of conflictual situations, context and reasons of crisis escalation and de-escalation, decision making process etc. The main reason impelled to write this article is the lack of integral theory on crisis issues. That is why the main objective of this study is to make a quantitative and comparative research of the crisis in the 20th century in order to highlight the main influential factors of this process in different time and space dimensions. A quantitative and comparative analysis in this article was performed using International Crisis Behavior (ICB) data-set of international crisis (by the SPSS 12.0 package). The results of the research confirm the presumption that the analysis of different "levels" provides different outcomes.[.].
the High Tribunal turned into the court of appeal for the cases tried by the general competence courts, military competence courts and the courts of Klaipeda region. There were developed and regulated the possibilities of law interpretation and application equalization as well as setting the distribution of cases and some functions of administrative court. It remained the trial of cases brought against the President of the Republic and the members of government for high treason and malfeasance as the first instance. The article describes the structure, practice organization and statistical data on practice load analyzing the complaints against the decisions of the lower courts as well as the practice on law interpretation of the Tribunal, which was regarded as one of the most important functions of the Tribunal.
the High Tribunal turned into the court of appeal for the cases tried by the general competence courts, military competence courts and the courts of Klaipeda region. There were developed and regulated the possibilities of law interpretation and application equalization as well as setting the distribution of cases and some functions of administrative court. It remained the trial of cases brought against the President of the Republic and the members of government for high treason and malfeasance as the first instance. The article describes the structure, practice organization and statistical data on practice load analyzing the complaints against the decisions of the lower courts as well as the practice on law interpretation of the Tribunal, which was regarded as one of the most important functions of the Tribunal.
The paper attempts to reconstruct the picture of the state savings bank system and its structure in Lithuanian governorates in the beginning of the 20th century. The same economic, political, social contradictions as in the whole credit system of the lagging behind Russian Empire as compared with Western European states were typical in the creation and activity of savings banks. Among other means (accumulation of land in the hands of Russians, colonial policy of taxes and customs), discriminative credit policies were used. The formation of credit resources using savings of the occupied countries also served for the imperial purposes of Russia. The opening and activities of savings banks were regulated by special statutes in which the objective of savings banks was indicated: to provide the possibility for poor people to accumulate funds in small amounts and get interest for them. However, the operations of savings banks were trivial, they managed to accumulate only very small amounts of money. In 1895, the new Statute of savings banks was approved and they were called State Savings Banks. The State Bank of Russia headed over the savings banks. According to the new Statute, the order of the opening of savings banks was easier. It became possible to open state savings banks and their branches in all cities and settlements - at the State Bank, treasuries, customs, at all governmental and public offices, private offices and enterprises. The spread of the network of savings banks became easier, deposits grew up. Deposits in saving banks in the period 1899-1913 increased rather rapidly: in the Vilnius governorate 2.9, in Kaunas 2.6, and in Suvalkai 3.1 times. The number of savings banks in Lithuanian governorates in this period increased 1.45 times. At the beginning of 1913, in Lithuanian governorates operated 29 central savings banks and one city branch, 241 savings banks at post offices, 11 at railway stations, and 2 saving banks in factories. The number of all V types of savings banks was biggest in Siauliai district (22), Vilnius and Raseiniai districts (21 in each), and the smallest in Naumiestis district (4). The biggest amount of deposits in total, its average per one savings bank, and the average amount of passbooks per one saving bank was in the Vilnius governorate and the smallest in the Suvalkai governorate. The average biggest amount of passbooks in savings banks per one thousand inhabitants was in the Vilnius governorate and the smallest in the Suvalkai governorate, too. Savings banks' deposit funds were invested in state bonds. Formation of the credit resources of the Russian Empire using savings of people of the occupied countries was one of the means of the realization of Russia's colonial policy. The Lithuanian deposit funds brought away from Lithuania have never been returned.
The paper attempts to reconstruct the picture of the state savings bank system and its structure in Lithuanian governorates in the beginning of the 20th century. The same economic, political, social contradictions as in the whole credit system of the lagging behind Russian Empire as compared with Western European states were typical in the creation and activity of savings banks. Among other means (accumulation of land in the hands of Russians, colonial policy of taxes and customs), discriminative credit policies were used. The formation of credit resources using savings of the occupied countries also served for the imperial purposes of Russia. The opening and activities of savings banks were regulated by special statutes in which the objective of savings banks was indicated: to provide the possibility for poor people to accumulate funds in small amounts and get interest for them. However, the operations of savings banks were trivial, they managed to accumulate only very small amounts of money. In 1895, the new Statute of savings banks was approved and they were called State Savings Banks. The State Bank of Russia headed over the savings banks. According to the new Statute, the order of the opening of savings banks was easier. It became possible to open state savings banks and their branches in all cities and settlements - at the State Bank, treasuries, customs, at all governmental and public offices, private offices and enterprises. The spread of the network of savings banks became easier, deposits grew up. Deposits in saving banks in the period 1899-1913 increased rather rapidly: in the Vilnius governorate 2.9, in Kaunas 2.6, and in Suvalkai 3.1 times. The number of savings banks in Lithuanian governorates in this period increased 1.45 times. At the beginning of 1913, in Lithuanian governorates operated 29 central savings banks and one city branch, 241 savings banks at post offices, 11 at railway stations, and 2 saving banks in factories. The number of all V types of savings banks was biggest in Siauliai district (22), Vilnius and Raseiniai districts (21 in each), and the smallest in Naumiestis district (4). The biggest amount of deposits in total, its average per one savings bank, and the average amount of passbooks per one saving bank was in the Vilnius governorate and the smallest in the Suvalkai governorate. The average biggest amount of passbooks in savings banks per one thousand inhabitants was in the Vilnius governorate and the smallest in the Suvalkai governorate, too. Savings banks' deposit funds were invested in state bonds. Formation of the credit resources of the Russian Empire using savings of people of the occupied countries was one of the means of the realization of Russia's colonial policy. The Lithuanian deposit funds brought away from Lithuania have never been returned.
The paper attempts to reconstruct the picture of the state savings bank system and its structure in Lithuanian governorates in the beginning of the 20th century. The same economic, political, social contradictions as in the whole credit system of the lagging behind Russian Empire as compared with Western European states were typical in the creation and activity of savings banks. Among other means (accumulation of land in the hands of Russians, colonial policy of taxes and customs), discriminative credit policies were used. The formation of credit resources using savings of the occupied countries also served for the imperial purposes of Russia. The opening and activities of savings banks were regulated by special statutes in which the objective of savings banks was indicated: to provide the possibility for poor people to accumulate funds in small amounts and get interest for them. However, the operations of savings banks were trivial, they managed to accumulate only very small amounts of money. In 1895, the new Statute of savings banks was approved and they were called State Savings Banks. The State Bank of Russia headed over the savings banks. According to the new Statute, the order of the opening of savings banks was easier. It became possible to open state savings banks and their branches in all cities and settlements - at the State Bank, treasuries, customs, at all governmental and public offices, private offices and enterprises. The spread of the network of savings banks became easier, deposits grew up. Deposits in saving banks in the period 1899-1913 increased rather rapidly: in the Vilnius governorate 2.9, in Kaunas 2.6, and in Suvalkai 3.1 times. The number of savings banks in Lithuanian governorates in this period increased 1.45 times. At the beginning of 1913, in Lithuanian governorates operated 29 central savings banks and one city branch, 241 savings banks at post offices, 11 at railway stations, and 2 saving banks in factories. The number of all V types of savings banks was biggest in Siauliai district (22), Vilnius and Raseiniai districts (21 in each), and the smallest in Naumiestis district (4). The biggest amount of deposits in total, its average per one savings bank, and the average amount of passbooks per one saving bank was in the Vilnius governorate and the smallest in the Suvalkai governorate. The average biggest amount of passbooks in savings banks per one thousand inhabitants was in the Vilnius governorate and the smallest in the Suvalkai governorate, too. Savings banks' deposit funds were invested in state bonds. Formation of the credit resources of the Russian Empire using savings of people of the occupied countries was one of the means of the realization of Russia's colonial policy. The Lithuanian deposit funds brought away from Lithuania have never been returned.
The paper attempts to reconstruct the picture of the state savings bank system and its structure in Lithuanian governorates in the beginning of the 20th century. The same economic, political, social contradictions as in the whole credit system of the lagging behind Russian Empire as compared with Western European states were typical in the creation and activity of savings banks. Among other means (accumulation of land in the hands of Russians, colonial policy of taxes and customs), discriminative credit policies were used. The formation of credit resources using savings of the occupied countries also served for the imperial purposes of Russia. The opening and activities of savings banks were regulated by special statutes in which the objective of savings banks was indicated: to provide the possibility for poor people to accumulate funds in small amounts and get interest for them. However, the operations of savings banks were trivial, they managed to accumulate only very small amounts of money. In 1895, the new Statute of savings banks was approved and they were called State Savings Banks. The State Bank of Russia headed over the savings banks. According to the new Statute, the order of the opening of savings banks was easier. It became possible to open state savings banks and their branches in all cities and settlements - at the State Bank, treasuries, customs, at all governmental and public offices, private offices and enterprises. The spread of the network of savings banks became easier, deposits grew up. Deposits in saving banks in the period 1899-1913 increased rather rapidly: in the Vilnius governorate 2.9, in Kaunas 2.6, and in Suvalkai 3.1 times. The number of savings banks in Lithuanian governorates in this period increased 1.45 times. At the beginning of 1913, in Lithuanian governorates operated 29 central savings banks and one city branch, 241 savings banks at post offices, 11 at railway stations, and 2 saving banks in factories. The number of all V types of savings banks was biggest in Siauliai district (22), Vilnius and Raseiniai districts (21 in each), and the smallest in Naumiestis district (4). The biggest amount of deposits in total, its average per one savings bank, and the average amount of passbooks per one saving bank was in the Vilnius governorate and the smallest in the Suvalkai governorate. The average biggest amount of passbooks in savings banks per one thousand inhabitants was in the Vilnius governorate and the smallest in the Suvalkai governorate, too. Savings banks' deposit funds were invested in state bonds. Formation of the credit resources of the Russian Empire using savings of people of the occupied countries was one of the means of the realization of Russia's colonial policy. The Lithuanian deposit funds brought away from Lithuania have never been returned.
Juozas Blažys (1890–1939) – the first chief of the Department of Nerve and Psychiatric Illnesses and Vice Rector of Lithuanian Vytautas Magnus University in the interwar period. In 2004 we commemorated the 65th anniversary of his death. He was a highly prominent personality of enormous erudition and productive scientist. He wrote a coursebook "Introduction to psychiatry", monograph-study "Tolerance, as a basis of culture", published around 100 articles in "Medicina" and various journals of that period. His ideas about psychiatry are relevant nowadays too. Professor was interested in the causes of psychosis origin, analyzed alcoholic, somatogenic psychosis, was interested and working in the fields of forensic psychiatry, military expertise, heredity and is contradictory evaluated in the field of eugenics till now. Juozas Blažys was born in Šiauliai. In 1914 he graduated Petersburg Academy of Military Medicine, worked at the various hospitals of Russian military. In 1918 he returned to Lithuania and started to work at the psychiatric hospital in Tauragė at first as a chief of department, and later as director, at the same time working as a physician of Tauragė district. In 1920–1921 Juozas Blažys lectured the course of psychiatry at Higher Courses of Study in Kaunas. In 1924, after the establishment of the University of Kaunas, he was elected as a chief of the department of Nerve and Psychiatric Illnesses. In 1935 he was granted the degree of professor, in 1938 – appointed as. [to full text]
Juozas Blažys (1890–1939) – the first chief of the Department of Nerve and Psychiatric Illnesses and Vice Rector of Lithuanian Vytautas Magnus University in the interwar period. In 2004 we commemorated the 65th anniversary of his death. He was a highly prominent personality of enormous erudition and productive scientist. He wrote a coursebook "Introduction to psychiatry", monograph-study "Tolerance, as a basis of culture", published around 100 articles in "Medicina" and various journals of that period. His ideas about psychiatry are relevant nowadays too. Professor was interested in the causes of psychosis origin, analyzed alcoholic, somatogenic psychosis, was interested and working in the fields of forensic psychiatry, military expertise, heredity and is contradictory evaluated in the field of eugenics till now. Juozas Blažys was born in Šiauliai. In 1914 he graduated Petersburg Academy of Military Medicine, worked at the various hospitals of Russian military. In 1918 he returned to Lithuania and started to work at the psychiatric hospital in Tauragė at first as a chief of department, and later as director, at the same time working as a physician of Tauragė district. In 1920–1921 Juozas Blažys lectured the course of psychiatry at Higher Courses of Study in Kaunas. In 1924, after the establishment of the University of Kaunas, he was elected as a chief of the department of Nerve and Psychiatric Illnesses. In 1935 he was granted the degree of professor, in 1938 – appointed as. [to full text]
Juozas Blažys (1890–1939) – the first chief of the Department of Nerve and Psychiatric Illnesses and Vice Rector of Lithuanian Vytautas Magnus University in the interwar period. In 2004 we commemorated the 65th anniversary of his death. He was a highly prominent personality of enormous erudition and productive scientist. He wrote a coursebook "Introduction to psychiatry", monograph-study "Tolerance, as a basis of culture", published around 100 articles in "Medicina" and various journals of that period. His ideas about psychiatry are relevant nowadays too. Professor was interested in the causes of psychosis origin, analyzed alcoholic, somatogenic psychosis, was interested and working in the fields of forensic psychiatry, military expertise, heredity and is contradictory evaluated in the field of eugenics till now. Juozas Blažys was born in Šiauliai. In 1914 he graduated Petersburg Academy of Military Medicine, worked at the various hospitals of Russian military. In 1918 he returned to Lithuania and started to work at the psychiatric hospital in Tauragė at first as a chief of department, and later as director, at the same time working as a physician of Tauragė district. In 1920–1921 Juozas Blažys lectured the course of psychiatry at Higher Courses of Study in Kaunas. In 1924, after the establishment of the University of Kaunas, he was elected as a chief of the department of Nerve and Psychiatric Illnesses. In 1935 he was granted the degree of professor, in 1938 – appointed as. [to full text]
Juozas Blažys (1890–1939) – the first chief of the Department of Nerve and Psychiatric Illnesses and Vice Rector of Lithuanian Vytautas Magnus University in the interwar period. In 2004 we commemorated the 65th anniversary of his death. He was a highly prominent personality of enormous erudition and productive scientist. He wrote a coursebook "Introduction to psychiatry", monograph-study "Tolerance, as a basis of culture", published around 100 articles in "Medicina" and various journals of that period. His ideas about psychiatry are relevant nowadays too. Professor was interested in the causes of psychosis origin, analyzed alcoholic, somatogenic psychosis, was interested and working in the fields of forensic psychiatry, military expertise, heredity and is contradictory evaluated in the field of eugenics till now. Juozas Blažys was born in Šiauliai. In 1914 he graduated Petersburg Academy of Military Medicine, worked at the various hospitals of Russian military. In 1918 he returned to Lithuania and started to work at the psychiatric hospital in Tauragė at first as a chief of department, and later as director, at the same time working as a physician of Tauragė district. In 1920–1921 Juozas Blažys lectured the course of psychiatry at Higher Courses of Study in Kaunas. In 1924, after the establishment of the University of Kaunas, he was elected as a chief of the department of Nerve and Psychiatric Illnesses. In 1935 he was granted the degree of professor, in 1938 – appointed as. [to full text]
In the present work the author reviews the two scientific monographs and twenty scientific articles in which the history of the Lithuanian legal system is investigated. The author aspires to elucidate how did the main subsystems of the Lithuanian legal system – legislation, jurisdiction and jurisprudence – appeared and developed up to the end of the 20th century in the context of evolution of the Western legal tradition. The basic methods of research used in the works are historical, comparative and teleological. The main theses of the reviewed scientific monographs and articles are these: The law of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) was created by the Government on the basis of the national Lithuanian law and some elements of the custom Slav law. Substitution of the custom Slav law for the Lithuanian public and private law took place in those provinces in the 14th-16th centuries. The custom Slav law hampered forming of the system of law of the GDL. It was created finally in the middle of the 16th century. The law of the GDL was a medieval estate law. Estate is a legal phenomenon and law determines signs and features of any estate. Main sign of any estate is rights leaved to him by law and protected by state. Estate system, that is an organization of society into classes rigidly divided for political purposes and defined primarily by law, is based on a legal inequality of estates. Any estate is a stable order closed to outsiders. In order to belong to estate any person must correspond to certain conditions determined by law. At the same time any person can belong to a few different social groups but only to one estate. The estate system of the GDL was formed finally in the middle of the 16th century. It was defined by the Second Statute of Lithuania and consisted of four estates: nobility, clergy, peasantry and townspeople. The nobility and the clergy were privileged. They governed the state and exploited bondsmen. In the towns which obtained the Magdeburg Law the townsmen were free, but haven't political rights and privileges. The author believes that all persons were subjects of medieval law of Lithuania, but their legal capacity was not equal. This inequality was determined by law. Volume of legal capacity of these persons depended upon their age, sex, citizenship, religion and estate. It could be changed in accordance with law. Under certain conditions loss of legal capacity also was able. Collective subjects of law were the GDL itself (not its government bodies or officials), the people of Lithuania as a political unit (not estates or ethnographic nations), political confederations of noblemen (if they were sanctioned by the Grand Duke), self-governing territorial units (counties, towns, etc.), guilds organized by craftsmen and merchants and self-governing religions communities. The author believes that a land-ownership in the GDL was divided. Two persons held the same land. One of them was an immediate owner, the second was a superior owner of the land. An immediate owner's right to dispose the land was limited by a superior owner's rights to this land. In the 14th-first half of the 16th century an ancestral land was the main form of land-ownership in the GDL. At first an ancestral land was owned without obligation of vassalage. Since the beginning of the 16th century an owner of an ancestral land was obliged to military service from his land. Since the 14th century a benefice was the second form of feudal land-ownership in the GDL. Gradually a benefice turned into a feud. In 1566 the Second Statute of Lithuania gave the equal rights to all owners of ancestral lands and feuds. They got the freedom to dispose all their lands, but were obliged to military service from their real estate. In the middle of the 16th century the domain of the Grand Duke was divided into the State lands and Throne lands. The Grand Duke's freedom to dispose these lands was limited. Up to the middle of the 16th century there were no permanent circuit courts for land disputes in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. All state courts heard land cases in their permanent quarters and moved in locality to survey borders only if it was very necessary. The Government of the GDL stimulated activity of arbitration and village courts and set them to resolve land disputes in locality. The first permanent circuit court (Sub-Chamber court) for boundary disputes was established in every county during the court reform in 1564-1566. Up to the middle of the 16th century jurisdiction of the Church determined by canons was very wide and came into collision with jurisdiction of the State. Besides clergymen and other subjects of the Church spiritual courts prosecuted noblemen, peasants and townsfolk. Competence of secular and spiritual courts was delimited clearly by the Third Statute of Lithuania. In accordance with this Statute spiritual courts could prosecute noblemen, peasants and townsfolk only if a certain case was bound up with religion or marriage. The medieval conception of formal evidences existed and dominated in the GDL from the 13th century up to the 18th century. The court was passive because all evidences were collected and produced by the plaintiff or by the defendant, and legal force of any evidence was determined by Lithuanian custom law and by the Lithuanian Statutes. The author believes that compurgators were not eye-witnesses of crime or event, there testified on oath only about good name of somebody. Compurgators swore together with plaintiff or defendant. Witnesses testified to or against somebody without oath. The legal status of witnesses and compurgators determined by the Lithuanian custom law and the First Lithuanian Statute was partly corrected by the Second and the Third Lithuanian Statutes in 1566 and 1588. Dietsky office appeared in the Ancient Slav State about the 11th century. From the 13th century onwards this office functioned in the GDL. Vizh office was instituted in the end of the 15th century or in the beginning of the 16th century in the GDL. Dietsky and Vizh were court officers executed judgements. Vizh was also official witness in criminal and civil cases. Vozny office was established in the GDL during the judicial reform in 1564-1566. Vozny was an important official of a court of law. He used to be elected by county noblemen. His duty was to inspect damages, wounds, and to witness at a trial. He was an executor of court's sentences. The number of lawyers who took scholastic degrees increased in the GDL in the 16th century. They developed legal terminology, introduced the written form of contracts and elaborated many legal acts. The Lithuanian Statutes should be regarded as the acme of progressive legal theoretical thought and practical activity. They surmounted the codification of the legislation of the GDL and brought the country to the leading position among other European countries. Yet the high standard, progressive spirit and intrinsic humanistic ideas by themselves did not mean that the Statutes were properly applied. In the 16th century, the lack of qualified lawyers complicated application of the Lithuanian Statutes. The legal sophistication of judges was often rather poor. Even members of the Lithuanian Tribunal of the GDL were not professional lawyers. The requirement constituted in the Lithuanian Statutes that only nobility were eligible to the position of judges was hardly observed because for a long time there had been not a single law school or college in the GDL. Why the Faculty of Law had not been founded in the Vilnius Jesuits' Academy before 1641? The author believes that the problem may be viewed in the context of international relations between the Kingdom of Poland and the GDL. In the year of the foundation of Vilnius University, one more event important for the legal development of GDL took place: creation of the highest appeal court – Lithuanian Tribunal. Polish landlords did not tolerate the steps strengthening the statehood of Lithuania. Creation of the Lithuanian Tribunal was a difficult victory of the GDL nobility. It is quite possible that concession to the University of Krakow and recognition of Polish monopoly in preparing lawyers were the cost paid for the mentioned victory. It seemed then more important to have their own appeal court than to prepare lawyers in the GDL. In the one article the author aspires to elucidate what was a medieval university – integral part of the town or feudal benefice, what were professors ant students – full fledged citizens of the town or aliens, and what were courts of the university – State or private, secular or ecclesiastical. The author established that any university in the Middle Ages was a self-governing professional corporation similar with guild or craft. Doctors and scholars (like merchants or craftsmen) elected rector and some others officials who governed and administered justice. Mostly university was an integral part of the town; professors ant students could exercise their rights on an equality with citizens of the town. Sometimes university was ruled by the Bishop or King as a feudal benefice independent from the town magistrates and courts (in this case the relations between town citizens and students were exceptionally strained). A very ample jurisdiction was allowed to the Rector's court, extending to all civil cases and all criminal cases except such as involved mutilation (in those criminal cases the jurisdiction of the town Magistrates, King's or Bishop's judges was recognized). Rector was required to suppress quarrels between students and townsmen, or among the students themselves. If Rector failed to punish offenders, a scholar or doctor was amenable to the town Magistrates, King's or Bishop's judges. The Bishop always reserved to himself spiritual jurisdiction over professors ant students. An appellate civil jurisdiction was reserved to the town Magistrates, King's or Bishop's judges. It should be recognized that the legal system
In the present work the author reviews the two scientific monographs and twenty scientific articles in which the history of the Lithuanian legal system is investigated. The author aspires to elucidate how did the main subsystems of the Lithuanian legal system – legislation, jurisdiction and jurisprudence – appeared and developed up to the end of the 20th century in the context of evolution of the Western legal tradition. The basic methods of research used in the works are historical, comparative and teleological. The main theses of the reviewed scientific monographs and articles are these: The law of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) was created by the Government on the basis of the national Lithuanian law and some elements of the custom Slav law. Substitution of the custom Slav law for the Lithuanian public and private law took place in those provinces in the 14th-16th centuries. The custom Slav law hampered forming of the system of law of the GDL. It was created finally in the middle of the 16th century. The law of the GDL was a medieval estate law. Estate is a legal phenomenon and law determines signs and features of any estate. Main sign of any estate is rights leaved to him by law and protected by state. Estate system, that is an organization of society into classes rigidly divided for political purposes and defined primarily by law, is based on a legal inequality of estates. Any estate is a stable order closed to outsiders. In order to belong to estate any person must correspond to certain conditions determined by law. At the same time any person can belong to a few different social groups but only to one estate. The estate system of the GDL was formed finally in the middle of the 16th century. It was defined by the Second Statute of Lithuania and consisted of four estates: nobility, clergy, peasantry and townspeople. The nobility and the clergy were privileged. They governed the state and exploited bondsmen. In the towns which obtained the Magdeburg Law the townsmen were free, but haven't political rights and privileges. The author believes that all persons were subjects of medieval law of Lithuania, but their legal capacity was not equal. This inequality was determined by law. Volume of legal capacity of these persons depended upon their age, sex, citizenship, religion and estate. It could be changed in accordance with law. Under certain conditions loss of legal capacity also was able. Collective subjects of law were the GDL itself (not its government bodies or officials), the people of Lithuania as a political unit (not estates or ethnographic nations), political confederations of noblemen (if they were sanctioned by the Grand Duke), self-governing territorial units (counties, towns, etc.), guilds organized by craftsmen and merchants and self-governing religions communities. The author believes that a land-ownership in the GDL was divided. Two persons held the same land. One of them was an immediate owner, the second was a superior owner of the land. An immediate owner's right to dispose the land was limited by a superior owner's rights to this land. In the 14th-first half of the 16th century an ancestral land was the main form of land-ownership in the GDL. At first an ancestral land was owned without obligation of vassalage. Since the beginning of the 16th century an owner of an ancestral land was obliged to military service from his land. Since the 14th century a benefice was the second form of feudal land-ownership in the GDL. Gradually a benefice turned into a feud. In 1566 the Second Statute of Lithuania gave the equal rights to all owners of ancestral lands and feuds. They got the freedom to dispose all their lands, but were obliged to military service from their real estate. In the middle of the 16th century the domain of the Grand Duke was divided into the State lands and Throne lands. The Grand Duke's freedom to dispose these lands was limited. Up to the middle of the 16th century there were no permanent circuit courts for land disputes in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. All state courts heard land cases in their permanent quarters and moved in locality to survey borders only if it was very necessary. The Government of the GDL stimulated activity of arbitration and village courts and set them to resolve land disputes in locality. The first permanent circuit court (Sub-Chamber court) for boundary disputes was established in every county during the court reform in 1564-1566. Up to the middle of the 16th century jurisdiction of the Church determined by canons was very wide and came into collision with jurisdiction of the State. Besides clergymen and other subjects of the Church spiritual courts prosecuted noblemen, peasants and townsfolk. Competence of secular and spiritual courts was delimited clearly by the Third Statute of Lithuania. In accordance with this Statute spiritual courts could prosecute noblemen, peasants and townsfolk only if a certain case was bound up with religion or marriage. The medieval conception of formal evidences existed and dominated in the GDL from the 13th century up to the 18th century. The court was passive because all evidences were collected and produced by the plaintiff or by the defendant, and legal force of any evidence was determined by Lithuanian custom law and by the Lithuanian Statutes. The author believes that compurgators were not eye-witnesses of crime or event, there testified on oath only about good name of somebody. Compurgators swore together with plaintiff or defendant. Witnesses testified to or against somebody without oath. The legal status of witnesses and compurgators determined by the Lithuanian custom law and the First Lithuanian Statute was partly corrected by the Second and the Third Lithuanian Statutes in 1566 and 1588. Dietsky office appeared in the Ancient Slav State about the 11th century. From the 13th century onwards this office functioned in the GDL. Vizh office was instituted in the end of the 15th century or in the beginning of the 16th century in the GDL. Dietsky and Vizh were court officers executed judgements. Vizh was also official witness in criminal and civil cases. Vozny office was established in the GDL during the judicial reform in 1564-1566. Vozny was an important official of a court of law. He used to be elected by county noblemen. His duty was to inspect damages, wounds, and to witness at a trial. He was an executor of court's sentences. The number of lawyers who took scholastic degrees increased in the GDL in the 16th century. They developed legal terminology, introduced the written form of contracts and elaborated many legal acts. The Lithuanian Statutes should be regarded as the acme of progressive legal theoretical thought and practical activity. They surmounted the codification of the legislation of the GDL and brought the country to the leading position among other European countries. Yet the high standard, progressive spirit and intrinsic humanistic ideas by themselves did not mean that the Statutes were properly applied. In the 16th century, the lack of qualified lawyers complicated application of the Lithuanian Statutes. The legal sophistication of judges was often rather poor. Even members of the Lithuanian Tribunal of the GDL were not professional lawyers. The requirement constituted in the Lithuanian Statutes that only nobility were eligible to the position of judges was hardly observed because for a long time there had been not a single law school or college in the GDL. Why the Faculty of Law had not been founded in the Vilnius Jesuits' Academy before 1641? The author believes that the problem may be viewed in the context of international relations between the Kingdom of Poland and the GDL. In the year of the foundation of Vilnius University, one more event important for the legal development of GDL took place: creation of the highest appeal court – Lithuanian Tribunal. Polish landlords did not tolerate the steps strengthening the statehood of Lithuania. Creation of the Lithuanian Tribunal was a difficult victory of the GDL nobility. It is quite possible that concession to the University of Krakow and recognition of Polish monopoly in preparing lawyers were the cost paid for the mentioned victory. It seemed then more important to have their own appeal court than to prepare lawyers in the GDL. In the one article the author aspires to elucidate what was a medieval university – integral part of the town or feudal benefice, what were professors ant students – full fledged citizens of the town or aliens, and what were courts of the university – State or private, secular or ecclesiastical. The author established that any university in the Middle Ages was a self-governing professional corporation similar with guild or craft. Doctors and scholars (like merchants or craftsmen) elected rector and some others officials who governed and administered justice. Mostly university was an integral part of the town; professors ant students could exercise their rights on an equality with citizens of the town. Sometimes university was ruled by the Bishop or King as a feudal benefice independent from the town magistrates and courts (in this case the relations between town citizens and students were exceptionally strained). A very ample jurisdiction was allowed to the Rector's court, extending to all civil cases and all criminal cases except such as involved mutilation (in those criminal cases the jurisdiction of the town Magistrates, King's or Bishop's judges was recognized). Rector was required to suppress quarrels between students and townsmen, or among the students themselves. If Rector failed to punish offenders, a scholar or doctor was amenable to the town Magistrates, King's or Bishop's judges. The Bishop always reserved to himself spiritual jurisdiction over professors ant students. An appellate civil jurisdiction was reserved to the town Magistrates, King's or Bishop's judges. It should be recognized that the legal system
