Rusne Juozapaitiene

The aim of the article is to analyse the jurisdiction of secular and ecclesiastical (spiritual) courts as reflected in the legal sources. The primary example is the normative law in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (further – GDL) in the 16th century. The legal practice was not the scope of this research. An attempt is made to investigate broader the jurisdiction of the secular and ecclesiastical courts in marriage and family cases. Traditionally it is believed that all marriage and family cases were settled only in ecclesiastical courts. As the jurisdiction of secular and ecclesiastical courts was not clearly delimitated in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, various rules of law (legal provisions) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania are analysed, which helps to determine the competence of relevant courts. In order to improve the understanding of the jurisdictional questions, especially in marriage and family cases, the context has to be broader as well. Historical, comparative, and synthetic analysis methods are important to solve the issue. The objects of the article are the rules of law (legal provisions) of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania determining the jurisdiction of secular and ecclesiastical courts in marriage and family cases. Sources are the main publications of the texts of the three Statutes of Lithuania, resolutions of the Grand Dukes and the Seimas, the case law and scientific literature. Unless specified otherwise, the following editions of the Statutes were used in this paper: FLS  - First Lithuanian Statute (1529),  SLS - Статут Вялiкага княства Лiтоўскага 1566 года,  TLS - Statute of Lithuania 1588.