Casimir's Code (; ; ), also known as the Sudebnik of 1468, was a

legal code A code of law, also called a law code or legal code, is a systematic collection of statutes. It is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the co ...

adopted by

Grand Duke of Lithuania This is a list of Lithuanian monarchs who ruled Lithuania from its inception until the fall of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1795. The Lithuanian monarch bore the title of Grand duke, Grand Duke, with the exception of Mindaugas, who was crown ...

and

King of Poland Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of Royal elections in Poland, free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electab ...

Casimir IV Jagiellon Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...

with the approval of the

Lithuanian Council of Lords The Lithuanian Council of Lords () was the main permanent institution of central government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania active in its capital city of Vilnius. It had originated from the advisory Council of the Grand Duke, established by Vytau ...

. It was the first attempt to codify the laws of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

. The code prescribed punishment for

property crime Property crime is a category of crime, usually involving private property, that includes, among other crimes, burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, shoplifting, and vandalism. Property crime is a crime to obtain money, property, ...

s and limited court procedures. Much of the legal system was left uncodified and was governed by customs. The manuscript is now in the

State Historical Museum The State Historical Museum () of Russia is a museum of History of Russia, Russian history located between Red Square and Manezhnaya Square, Moscow, Manege Square in Moscow. The museum's exhibitions range from relics of prehistoric tribes that li ...

in Moscow, as MS Uvar. 702-4°.

Context

The date or the circumstances when the code was adopted are unknown. The historians conjured that the most probable date is February 1468 when the

Seimas of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania The sejm (, Ruthenian: Соймъ, ) was an early parliament in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was active from 1445 to 1569, when it was officially abolished by the Union of Lublin. The Sejm was an irregular gathering of the Lithuanian nobility, ...

met in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. The code differed from privileges previously issued by the Grand Duke because the code granted no new rights to the nobility. Judging from the content, the code was intended for the nobility and landowners, who received Casimir's privilege in 1447 to try '' veldamai'', a class of dependent people that eventually became

serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed dur ...

. The code attempted to impose some consistency in the treatment of ''veldamai''. The document also did not specify the effective date or territory. Historians believe that the code was in effect in entire Lithuania up to the first Statute of Lithuania of 1529 even though no court cases are known that referenced the code. Written in the

Ruthenian language Ruthenian (see also #Nomenclature, other names) is an exonymic linguonym for a closely related group of East Slavic languages, East Slavic linguistic Variety (linguistics), varieties, particularly those spoken from the 15th to 18th centuries in ...

, the original document did not survive, but several copies are known from the end of 15th and beginning of the 16th centuries. The document was first published in 1826 by

Ignacy Daniłowicz Ignacy is a Polish given name, equivalent of the name ''Ignatius''. Notable people with the name include: * Ignacy Tadeusz Baranowski (1879–1917), Polish historian * Piotr Ignacy Bieńkowski (1865–1925), Polish classical scholar and archaeologi ...

, law professor at

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

. The document did not have a proper name and was named ''Casimir's Code'' or ''Casimir's Statute'' by modern historians. The original code was not divided into articles; modern historians have identified 25 articles.

Content

The code prescribed various punishments for crimes and some court procedures. It dealt only with crimes against property (theft and robbery). The code primarily dealt with common thieves, but also addressed crimes by the

Lithuanian nobility The Lithuanian nobility () or ''szlachta'' of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (, ) was historically a legally privileged hereditary elite class in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth (including during period of foreign r ...

(such as cutting forest trees without permission or luring away '' veldamai'' from another noble). The nobility was to be tried and sentenced by the Grand Duke and the Council of Lords. Civil disputes between nobles were to be decided by the third-party judges. Peasants dependent on the Grand Duke were to be tried by '' tijūnai'' (high-ranking supervisors of royal estates), while those dependent on other dukes and nobles – by the nobles themselves or their appointed officials. A criminal first had to compensate the victim for the material losses (the stolen object was usually not returned to the victim, but transferred to the court). The code devoted special attention to this issue. Then criminal was subject to the actual punishment. There were four types of punishments: the stolen object was confiscated for the benefit of the court; if the object was not available, it was replaced by other compensation of equal value; flogging and putting into

stocks Stocks are feet and hand restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law de ...

; hanging. The death sentence was limited to repeated offenders, thefts of cows and horses, and other crimes that exceeded a certain monetary limit. The responsibility for the crimes did not extend to family members unless they knew or participated in the theft.

References

External links

Original text of the Casimir's Code (in old Belarusian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Code, Casimir Jagiellonian dynasty Legal codes Church Slavonic manuscripts Legal history of Lithuania Legal history of Belarus Polish-language literature Ruthenian-language literature 1468 in Europe 15th century in Lithuania 1460s in law Works about Poland Works about Lithuania