ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 48. (ZAGREB, 2005)
Strana - 130
Summary USE OF ARCHIVES ACCORDING TO THE STATUTES OF DALMATIAN CITIES Using exemplary provisions of the Statutes originated from few amongst Dalmatian cities (Split, Zadar, Trogir, Šibenik, Skradin, Brač, Hvar, Korčula and Lastovo) in the first part of this article author presents a way of use and preservation of public archives generated by communal authorities - duke, Chamber or community Council - i. e. of archives created for the official purposes in those communities. By a number of measures communities were making efforts to protect archives important as evidence of their communal rights. Regarding place for the custody of archives at the beginning it was regularly a coffer or a special book-case, which, by time, developed into separated room, and sometimes even into separated building. Step by step a System of few keys was developed as a System where few different communal officials were in Charge of the access to the archives. In the cases where separated rooms existed for the custody of archives the access to those rooms was in principle permitted only with license of communal authorities, mostly that of duke, as an exponent of executive power. Since the communities intended to concentrate archives at one place, special care was taken to insure that communal officials were delivering all the archives back to the community at the end of their mandates or later if they retained them longer. Beginning with 15th Century provisions on obligatory inventorying of the archives are more often. A second type of archives and their use, that of private archives created for the personal needs of communal inhabitants, is described in the second part of the article. Differently from the public archives, which use was charge-free, it was obligatory to pay notarial Services when it came to private documents, and costs of putting them together were precisely defined. Regarding their custody or improvement of putting them together, treatment of both types of archives was very similar. Statutes of developed communities, like Split and Zadar, and to a lesser degree, those of Trogir and Šibenik, are rieh in details describing use of archives of both types. Every Citizen was permitted to use only those archives by which his rights were protected. In some minor communities in which notarial office wasn't clearly separated from that of chancellery, for example in Lastovo, rigorous protection measures were previewed for use of private archives, and bigger discretionary authority was given to the duke, as an exponent of executive power. The authority of duke increased from 16th Century on, with consolidation of Venetian power in Dalmatian communities, same as that of Dubrovnik in Lastovo, and provisions which regulated and restricted use of archives for private purposes were more and more precise. Key words: archives, statute, chancellor, notary public, document Trans late d by Rajka Bućin
