Lithuanian army-treasury commissions during the seventeenth century

The article was based primarily on sources found in archives in Minsk and Vilnius, which contain books of particular commissions established due to Sejm constitutions. During the seventeenth century, the commissions in question, which settled accounts with the army and fulfilled the function of a treasury court, were held upon twenty occasions, starting with 1634. From the viewpoint of their organisation, they were modelled on the Treasury Tribunal. Both colleges were composed of representatives of the Senate, and in both a permanent place was held by the Grand Treasurer. The function of the head, or chairman, of the Treasury Tribunal was fulfilled by the treasurer, and in the remaining commissions - by the hetman. Representatives of particular voivodeships in the Tribunal were appointed at Sejm sessions until 1699, and subsequently by the dietines, which chose commissars already since 1670. The security of the commissions and the Tribunal was guaranteed by the same laws as those protecting the Main Tribunal. The court competence of the Tribunal and the commissions were identical, although the latter were entrusted with paying the army. The order of adjudication did not differ from the one observed by the Tribunal, and the same elements of procedure were adhered to, starting with the oath, which, however, to 1690 was not obligatory in the case of Senators-members of the commission, albeit was always sworn by Senators-members of the Tribunal. The heads of both colleges and their secretaries were chosen in the same manner. The sentences issued by the commissions possessed a form and significance similar to those passed by the Tribunal. The verdicts were also executed in the same way, a task entrusted to the starosta. The commissions were not empowered to alter any decision made by the Tribunal, and vice versa. For all practical purposes, the commissions comprised a Tribunal combined with a deputation dealing with remuneration for the army. From 1717 on, the Treasury Tribunal became a permanent financial court, independent of the Sejm, and from 1726 it merged with the Main Tribunal. During the seventeenth century, both colleges were not permanent, and could not resolve all the cases due to the lack of time. This was the reason why also other courts, such as the Main Tribunal, the zadworny (nadworny) court and the parliamentary court examined their own causae frsci. In 1764, the praxis of the commissions and the Treasury Tribunal led to the emergence of Treasury and Army Tribunals