A Hajdú-Bihar Megyei Levéltár évkönyve 29. 2002-2003 (Debrecen, 2003)
Tanulmányok - Balogh István: Debrecen mezőváros igazgatása és igazságszolgáltatása 1361-1599
29 In the second half of the 16th century, after a long legal procedure, the magistrate finally forced noblemen moving into the town in ever increasing numbers to bear equal burdens with other residents of the market town. Criminals caught in the act either in the town or on the confines of the town could be sentenced to death by the court, and the capital punishment was carried out by the city. Low-level administration was provided on the level of cities. Residents of each street elected street captains for carrying out the administrative and law enforcement tasks; they were assisted in their work by corporals and so-called “ten- house-chiefs”. In the last decade of the 16th century, Debrecen was the property of the Transylvanian princely fiscus, a settlement of rights almost equivalent to royal towns. With a population of 11-12 thousand, it was the most populous town of not only the Transylvania Principality, but the whole of royal Hungary. Hajdú-Bihar Megyei Levéltár Évkönyve XXIX.