The Procedural Rules of the Late Feudal Age from the Perspective of a 19th Century Possessory Action

Abstract

The article examines a written legal case from the 19th century from the point of view of procedural rules. The case was conducted within the so-called Tolnai branch of the Festetics family between Antal and Lajos Festetics as plaintiffs and their sister-in-law, the widowed Erzsébet Horváth of Zalabér, the former wife of János Festetics, before the deputy lieutenant’s court for the possessions of the Toponár castle and estate. On the basis of the documents preserved in the archives, the procedural institutions of the late feudal age can be well illustrated, such as the admonition, the filing of a petition, the hearing of witnesses, the execution of the court's judgment and the legal remedies, especially in private legal cases involving nobles.