With no right to have rights. Conflict analysis and the common rights of the townsfolk of Rymanów in the latter half of the 19th century

Abstract

This article concentrates on an inquest held by the local commission in Sanok into the common rights claimed by the inhabitants of the town of Rymanów in the latter half of the 19th century. The negotiations, which commenced in 1859, sometimes took a heated turn. They were attended by much conflict and misunderstanding, equally between the manor and the town as among the townsfolk themselves. Conclusions drawn from the analysis of the archive source provided the basis on which to evaluate the activities of each of the parties – the town’s agents and the landlords – and, interestingly, those of the commissioners and other officials in the public administration, whose decisions exhibited bias. The townsfolk began the negotiation from a position of certainty and conviction of the legal force of Prince Czartoryski’s privilege granting the disputed common rights to them. The manor’s agent, on the other hand, took a bold position, which he consistently maintained. He disputed the authenticity of Czartoryski’s grant and even the fact that the Prince had ever held the manor. This approach ultimately proved successful. Attention is also drawn to the role played by local commissioners and the officials in the National Commission in Lviv, the latter making the most important decisions. The first phase demonstrates the commissioners’ influence on the original outcome. The rationale given for the second decision, on the other hand, shows the arbitrariness with which the Lviv Commission made its ruling, based on just one official document. Analysis of the proceedings highlights a more general trend prevalent in Galicia, first described in the example of Rymanów. This is a case in which two consecutive inquests in the same matter ultimately ended in a negative decision. In other words, the townsfolk’s claims were dismissed, and they were denied any common rights eligible for buyout or regulation.