Kujbusné Mecsei Éva: Nyíregyháza önkormányzata 1753–1848 - A Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg Megyei Levéltár Kiadványai II. Közlemények 28. (Nyíregyháza, 2003)
Rezümék
The Local Government of Nyíregyháza (1753-1848) Résumé The most spectacularly developing market-town of Szabolcs county was Nyíregyháza in the 18 th — 19 th centuries. The serf-community, the repopulation of which began in 1753, possessed the characteristic elements of the local government of a market town already when settling. Among the members of the body of magistrates, which was more populous than that of the villages, besides judges and officials completing administrative tasks there were trustees of leaseholds, as well. Every year new inhabitants were elected office-bearers by the nomination of the town's landlords. These people did their work according to the contemporary usage and the decisions of the manor court. The town became a market-town after getting the right of holding four annual fairs in 1786. At this time to administer the new usage a new function was created. Later this practise went on: a new official was elected every time a new task had to be completed. In the studied period the leaders of the community were chief constables and subordinate judges who had administrative, economic and judicatory tasks. By the 1790s the number of these tasks had increased owing to the increase in the population, which was the result of the continuous immigration. To help the leaders a new management was formed to control animal keeping in farms besides farming. This community controlled the leased-out regale beneficium and consisted of 40 elected members, who were chosen for life, so they represented stability in the economy of the town. Due to the favourable contracts with the landlords and the good conditions of farming fifty years after the settling the inhabitants of Nyíregyháza had become so well-to-do that they could redeem their provisions from their landlords. In 1803 the redemption from one of the owners was a turning point concerning the management of the town as the serf-community got manorial rights and it became the joint-owner of the other landlord, as well. On the one hand new officials and a new body of judicatory magistrates were needed to exercise its rights. On the other hand there was an attempt to make the job of the managers of the town's income more effective by clearly setting the tasks as a lot of money was needed for repaying the accomodation and for another redemption. There were several amendments of the scope of authority in the statutes of the town and from 1818 on regular yearly payment was fixed for those completing common duties. Owing to this fact the functions in the local government started to become positions from the first third of the 19 1 ' 1 century. It was at that time that quite a lot of people undertook to hold a position for even several years. Besides farmers artisans and intellectuals could also get from one position to the other to the managerial élite that was being formed.
