THE NOBLE DEMOCRACY 267cases affecting his particular domain. Hence, there were Chancellor's courts;
Marshal's courts; Hetman's courts; Treasurer's courts; and, for the royal Court,
the sqd dworski, or 'Court court'. At a higher level, the Referendaria Koronna
was established in the sixteenth century to hear appeals against decisions involv-
ing the bailiffs and tenants of the Crown lands. In theory at least, it gave the
royal serfs a measure of justice denied to the serfs of the Church or of the nobil-
ity. The sqd wojewodzki or 'Palatine's court' dealt with unresolved interjuris-
dictional disputes. From 1578, the Crown Tribunals at Lublin for Malopolska
and at Piotrkow for Wielkopolska, Kujawy, and Mazowsze, and the Lithuanian
Tribunal at Wilno, for the Grand Duchy, acted as courts of highest instance
above the district courts. They were supervised by noble 'deputies' appointed by
each of the dietines. At the highest level, the Sejm reserved its right to act as the
supreme court of appeal. As the Republic's principal legislative body, it formu-
lated the constituta/konstytucje or 'statutes', which governed the work of all the
royal courts and Tribunals. On occasion, in the name of the Republic, it tried
important cases of treason or of dereliction of duty by the chief Officers-of-State
who demanded to be judged by their peers. In such a fragmented system, it was
only to be expected that the legal profession prospered mightily. In Warsaw and
Lublin especially, the Palestra or 'Bar' supported shoals of advocates and attor-
neys. Despite these elaborate arrangements the strictures of the law could be
easily avoided, especially by the Nobility. They were the absolute masters of
their own lands and serfs. They were the corporate employers of the king, and
by extension of all the royal officials. They could safely ignore the promptings
of the Church, and were specifically protected from prosecution by the ecclesi-
astical courts in matters of religion. Their peculiar alliance with the Jews
derived, among other things, from the defenceless position of the Jewish estate
in face of noble coercion. In the cities, they were not subject to the jurisdiction
of the municipal courts; and in their numerous jurydyki possessed entire wards,
where they and their men were safe from interference. As a result, in those few
cities which retained an independent existence, they could reside, build houses,
amuse themselves, and generally sponge on the community without paying
municipal taxes, and without serious fear of disturbance. The action of the city
of Poznan, which in 1613 expelled all its noble hooligans and parasites by force,
belonged to the rare and enterprising exceptions to the general rule. In the coun-
tryside at large, the instances of lawlessness were legion. In Wladyslaw
Lozinski's classic study Prawem i lewem (By Right or by Might), based on the
court records of Lwow and Przemysl in the first decades of the seventeenth cen-
tury, a social scene is revealed in which the law was broken more often than it
was kept. Rapine, plunder, rape, and private wars were the order of the day.
The provincial nobleman defended his inheritance sword in hand, and if possi-
ble with cannon and grapeshot. When he could not get his way in the courts, he
would take it by any means available. Incorrigible litigiousness was accompa-
nied by wanton violence; perjury and subornation were as commonplace as
murder and assault. Conditions resembled those in England during the Wars of