Ságvári Ágnes (szerk.): Budapest. The History of a Capital (Budapest, 1975)
Documents
guardians of certain civic funds, particularly the Serbs and the Jews, who can only be admitted as persons under protection, shall be subject to municipal authority and its judgment, in addition to their public and common burdens, in matters under dispute either civil or criminal in character, which arise in each district and concern persons or acts (except in lawful privileged cases), with the proviso that: no man who is not of the true Roman Catholic faith shall be admitted as a citizen under any pretext; and furthermore, that the citizens, newcomers, hospes and inhabitants of the city of Pest shall have the right freely to elect a magistrate or a mayor every two years, upon an appointed day, upon the re-election of officials in the presence of a royal commissioner in accordance with the customs in use in other royal boroughs, that is, that the elected citizens convened by the chief magistrate or the mayor in the Town Hall, after the magistrate or the mayor has resigned his former office, shall confirm the former chief magistrate or mayor in his office by a majority of votes, as previously mentioned, and in the presence of our royal commissioner, spokesman and sworn notary confirm or shall elect a new one from among the members of the municipal council, and shall ensure him to take the oath before the altar in the city church. Furthermore, the municipal Council, consisting of twelve councillors shall after the death of a councillor be empowered to elect in his place a suitable member after due consideration of his morality and his wisdom, to suspend a councillor who contravenes the rights of the Council temporarily from office to provide municipal services, to be responsible for the revenues of the city, to require from the teller of the accounts the statement due. ... It shall be forbidden to relieve or exempt houses and land both within and without the city from public dues and taxes without the prior knowledge of the community or to the prejudice of the community, moreover we resolve and publicly ordain that where landed property may devolve on the church or on an unrelated person, by inheritance or by any other legal title, unless the heir within a year and a day shall take out his part in the rights, liberties and benefits of the city, he shall sell them to acknowledged citizens, or else the municipal Council shall be free to evict the owner from his landed property, after paying to him the estimated value of his property; and in order that the continuity of the municipal laws should be maintained, and the civil authority or public power should remain whole and undisturbed, we therefore publicly ordain that no man else, be he soldier, or lay officer or officer of the Chamber, nor even the county itself may exercise municipal authority there without contravening the law of the country, and the City of Pest, may sit in judgment on citizens, or may harass them by any other act of authority, and in particular through demands for relays of horses and similar services, nor shall they dare to meddle in such matters,... no man shall dare to seize or keep in captivity the person or property of citizens, hospes and inhabitants of the City of Pest for others’ debts and we further forbid the seizure of a citizen before previous resort to the city as the higher legal authority with request and petitions for the administration of justice in vain; we likewise exempt them from the payment of any toll or thirtieth within the borders of Hungary, and similar to the ancient liberties of the other royal free boroughs, do exempt them from having foreigners and newcomers of any quartered in their houses without the approval and orders of the municipal council... And as an emblem embodying in eternal memory the grace and benevolence we have bestowed upon our Free Royal City of Pest, and in order that our favour may shine more resplendently, we have therefore approved and confirmed the former arms borne by the city in times past, ornamented and ennobled by the former kings of 86
