Polsko-rosyjskie sądy pograniczne po pierwszym rozbiorze – wybrane problemy funkcjonowania
Polish-Russian Border Courts aft er the First Partition of Poland – Selected Problems of Th eir Functioning

Summary/Abstract: The functioning of the border courts established in the second half of the seventeenth century, which were to settle border disputes between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia, depended mainly on the relations between the two states. The military strength of Russia, growing in the eighteenth century, as well as the progressing anarchization and weakness of the Polish-Lithuanian State had an influence on the functioning of border courts. It was also influenced by events related to the haidamaka rebellion, and Bar Confederation, which caused the suspension of their operation in the early days of the reign of King Stanislaw August. Another problem was the progressive expansion of the Russian state, trying to make the border areas of the Commonwealth an economic base needed to develop the lands conquered in Turkey. For this purpose, attempts were also made to use border courts in which the Polish nobility was requested to hand over several thousand Russian runaways as a condition to any concessions to the Polish nobility claiming their rights in these courts. The article presents – on the example of the Bratslav and Kiev Provinces – the collapse of the border judiciary which occurred in 1779, at the time of growing tension due to the policy pursued by Grigory Potemkin, seeking, if not partial annexation of the southern provinces of the Commonwealth, at least to establish a buffer zone between the two countries, which would probably be quickly absorbed by Russia. Attempts undertaken by the Polish side at the time to appoint a delimitation commission were combined with efforts to prepare a new ordinance of border courts that would guarantee their effective functioning. To this end, the Polish side unsuccessfully tried to make appropriate arrangements in the form of agreements between the two states.

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