Activities of the Lithuania Supreme Tribunal in the latter half of the 18th century: application of the nobility law

The dissertation examines the central judicial institution of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: the Supreme Tribunal and its functioning in the latter half of the 18th century. The choice of the investigated period was determined by the most significant judicial reforms carried out from 1764 to 1792 and in 1793. The present work, with reference to the concept of “efficient practice” and data of the research on modern legal theory and practice, adopts a comprehensive approach towards the administration of justice in the society of modern times. It analyses the most important factors determening the court’s activity: court’s competence, composition, judicial process and practical organization of its work. The compositional aspect of the court is analysed through the lenses of the formation of legal profession, therefore the aim was not only to evaluate all the normative acts defining responsibilities and functions of judges, chancellery clerks, advocates, procurators, court prosecutors but also to compile a comprehensive list of them. The dynamics of the court’s work was determined by calculating the number of lawsuits filed, number of cases that were solved and the ones left unsolved as well as the average time it took to settle lawsuits that were recorded in each register. At the end there are highlighted the problems encountered by the lower order courts that influenced the Tribunal’s workload. There is also given the analysis of some examples of how outsiders impacted the rulings of the court and episodes that reveal the legal awareness of the nobility