Jurydyka (plural: jurydyki, improperly: jurydykas), is a legal entity in the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

legal system from bygone centuries (originating from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''iurisdictio'', jurisdiction), denoting a privately owned tract of land within a larger municipality, often right outside the royal city, or as an autonomous enclave within it. Jurydyki claimed exemption from the town's jurisdiction, and exerted municipal rights separate from the local laws usually for their owners' financial benefit.

History

Jurydyki were popular already in the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...

of the 16 century, ruled by the ecclesiastic and secular lords and seigneurs eager to break up the legal unity of the town to accommodate favoured colonies of craftsmen not subjected to guild regulations. The Jurydyki were often perceived as a menace withholding municipal taxes and services under the jurisdiction (hence the name) of powerful and wealthy townsmen who founded and owned them. Formed as a separate unit of territorial division between 14th and 16th centuries, the jurydyka-type settlements were a way in which the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and the Polish nobility avoided the terms of the royal town charters. Most notably, the Jurydyki were exempted from the specific trade laws allowing only selected merchants and craftsmen to take part in the markets held in the cities. In many Polish cities the Jurydyki were eventually incorporated into the towns as their boroughs. This was the case of

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, which in early 18th century was surrounded by no less than 14 such entities, some of them with as many as 5,000 inhabitants. All of them are now neighbourhoods of Warsaw.

References

{{Polish terms for country subdivisions Subdivisions of Poland Types of administrative division