Az Erdélyi Fejedelemség személyes jelenléti bírósága és a táblai elnökök a 16. század második felében
The Court of Personalis Presentia in the Transylvanian Principality and the Presidents of the Tabula in the Second Half of the 16th Century

Summary/Abstract: The present paper starts with a general presentation of the judicial institutions which were organized after the return of queen Izabella and her son from Poland (1556). The establishment of the Royal (Princely) Table (Tabula, Sedria) was based on medieval backgrounds, with paid judges (assessores) and later a president who probably took the final decisions during the proceedings. Initially there was only one protonotary for Transylvania, but from 1558 another one was appointed. The Tabula adjudicated all kinds of cases appealed from the counties but it’s jurisdiction consisted mainly of actions involving noble property rights and acts of might. If one of the parties was not content with the decision of the Table, he could appeal his case to the court of „personal presence” (personalis presentia), where the case was discussed by a few councilmen and other jurisperiti viri. The court of personalis presentia was established in 1558, but our first documentary evidence is from the beginning of 1559. Sometimes the king or later the prince really attended this court which functioned simultaneously with the Tabula, during the so-called court sessions (octaves) or when and where the general assembly was held. The assembly of Mediaş which took place in the december of 1588 appointed a president for the Tabula. The purpose of this reorganization is not very clear, we can just assume that the opposition of Sigismund Báthory tried to maintain this way its infl uence on the judicial system. The Tabula was chaired first by Boldizsár Bánffy (1589–1592), after that Gergely Szentegyedi and Pongrác Sennyei were the presidents of the Court.

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