Selected aspects of production and consumption of wine in medieval municipal law (in the territory of today‘s Slovakia) Cover Image

Vybrané aspekty dorábania a konzumácie vína v stredovekom mestskom práve (na území dnešného Slovenska)
Selected aspects of production and consumption of wine in medieval municipal law (in the territory of today‘s Slovakia)

Author(s): Žofia Lysá
Subject(s): History, Cultural history, Middle Ages
Published by: Historický ústav SAV
Keywords: Municipal law; Middle Ages; Viticulture; Alcohol; Torts

Summary/Abstract: Municipal law can be defined as all law relating to towns: it is a set of legal norms that regulated the relationship of townspeople to the monarch and regional institutions, as well as the citizen to citizen relations. It was about all the law to which the citizens were subject or governed themselves. From the point of view of sources of law, municipal law includes all forms – privileges, decrees (laws), but also autonomous statutes and custom. The basis of the study is the sources of municipal law in the narrower sense of the word, namely the area of law within the competence of municipal authorities that regulated relations within the city. It uses sources of law created in the environment of medieval cities (law books of the cities of Bratislava and Buda, Codex tavernicalis and indirectly also reports from courts), which allow a glimpse into the daily life of medieval citizens. The contribution will focus on two aspects of the presence of alcohol in the life of a medieval person. What role did drunkenness/sobriety play in the judicial process, both in relation to the decision-making processes of the court itself, and in relation to offenses by defendants or victims (mitigating circumstance, full awareness for committing the act). The second aspect captured in municipal law is the disputes and rules regulating the relations between citizens and winegrowers, which colourfully portray the daily life associated with the finishing and bottling of wine.

  • Issue Year: 71/2023
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 689-708
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: Slovak