First Statute of Lithuania

The Statutes of Lithuania, originally known as the Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were a 16th-century codification of all the legislation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and its successor, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Statutes consist of three legal codes (1529, 1566 and 1588), all written in Ruthenian language, translated into Latin and later Polish. They formed the basis of the legal system of the Grand Duchy. One of the main sources of the statutes was Old Russian Law.

The main purpose of the First Statute was to standardise and collect various tribal and customary laws in order to codify them as a single document.

The First Statute was drafted in 1522 and came into power in 1529 by the initiative of the Lithuanian Council of Lords. It has been proposed that the codification was initiated by Grand Chancellor of Lithuania Mikołaj Radziwiłł as a reworking and expansion of the Casimir Code. The first edition was redrafted and completed by his successor Albertas Goštautas, who assumed the position of the Grand Chancellor of Lithuania in 1522.

The second statute went into effect in 1566 by the order of King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus, and was larger and more advanced. The Grand Duke did this because of pressure from the Lithuanian nobility, as the expansion of nobles' rights since the publication of the first statute had made it redundant. The second statute was prepared by a special commission, consisting of ten members, appointed by the Grand Duke and the Council of Lords.

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