Jesuits: prosecutors and the prosecuted. Information on Jesuits contained in the Castle Court and Land Court books of the Vilnius Powiat in 1734-73

In the current article, legal conflicts involving the colleges of the Jesuit order in the Vilnius pow¬iat in 1734-73 are analyzed. In total, 136 cases in which Jesuits appeared both as plaintiffs and defendants have been found. The general ratio of plaintiff to defendant is 76 to 65. The Jesuits of the novitiate of the Vilnius Jesuit Academy (St. John's College), the tertiary at St. Raphael's Church, the house of the professed Jesuits at St. Casimir's Church, the college for the nobility, and the Pasiause, Sluckas and Kaunas colleges were involved in these cases. The main adversaries of the Jesuits were noblemen of the Vilnius powiat: the families of Czyz, Cechanowiecki, Eperjesz, Skarbek-Wazyriski, Kolenda, Sperski and others. Sometimes their adversaries were other Catholic or sometimes Russian Orthodox priests and religious orders (Basilian, Piarist, Bernardine nuns), and Vilnius burghers. In the cases where Jesuits were involved, the number of violent crimes was smaller than that of non¬violent offences, at the ratio of 61 to 75. Among the offences against individuals and their property, accusations of attacks on estates were predominant, with a lesser number of robberies. Among the offences against individuals, the majority were bodily injuries: violence onVytauto Didžiojo universitetasŠvietimo akademij