''Garigeba khelmts'ip'is karisa'' ( ka, გარიგება ჴელმწიფის კარისა), translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

as "Regulations of the Royal Court", "Institution of the Royal Court" or "Constitution of the Royal Court", is a medieval

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

code of laws 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 cod ...

commonly assigned to the second reign of George V "the Brilliant" (r. 1314–1346), or to a period not far removed from it. Only part of the original text has been preserved in the form of a single 17th-century manuscript.სურგულაძე ი., ქსე, ტ. 3, გვ. 5, თბ., 1978 It is an important document bearing on the structure of the

Kingdom of Georgia The Kingdom of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამეფო, tr), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in circa 1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic ...

and usefully supplements the account of the Georgian medieval court and state organization given by the early 18th-century scholar

Prince Vakhushti Vakhushti ( ka, ვახუშტი, tr) (1696–1757) was a Georgian royal prince (''batonishvili''), geographer, historian and cartographer. His principal historical and geographic works, '' Description of the Kingdom of Georgia'' and the ''G ...

in his description of Georgia. What has survived of this treatise provides a systematic and minutely elucidated picture of the court, administrative machinery and social structure of the medieval Georgian state. Some clauses of the treatise are clearly based on tradition going back to the 11th and 12th centuries. Among the most important chapters are those dealing with court etiquette, including such ceremonies as the order for the coronation service, the king's dressing and robing, the serving of the royal dinner, audiences, and the celebration of major holidays and religious feast days. The duties and prerogatives of the ministers of state (

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...

s) are laid down, and the protocol for sessions of the Privy Council (''savaziro'') is set out. A chapter on the responsibilities of the

amirspasalar ''Amirspasalar'' or ''amirspasalari'' ( ka, ამირსპასალარი, from fa, امیر سپه سالار, ) was the commander-in-chief of the medieval Georgian army and one of the highest officials of the Kingdom of Georgia, comm ...

(commander-in-chief) and his staff gives technical details on the equipment and armor supplied to the Georgian royal army. The document was discovered and published by

Ekvtime Takaishvili Ekvtime Takaishvili (also spelled Taqaishvili) () (January 5, 1862 – February 21, 1953) was a Georgian historian, archaeologist and public benefactor. Born in the village of Likhauri in the western Georgian province of Guria to a local noblema ...

, ''Institution des cours royales'',

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

, 1920 (''Monumenta Georgica'', tom. IV, no. 1). Much of the material contained in it is translated in English and incorporated in W.E.D. Allen, ''A History of the Georgian People'',

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, 1932. Another important edition is Ivane Surguladze (ed., Tbilisi, 1993), ''Regulations of the Royal Crown'' (ხელმწიფის კარის გარიგება), which includes English translation by Ketevan Surguladze.

References

{{Reflist 14th century in law Law of Georgia (country) Kingdom of Georgia