ABSTRACT
Towns conferred the privileges of citizenship on their burgesses. Citizens acquired the status through inheritance from their parents or by a voluntary act that usually culminated in taking an oath. Simple residence without these criteria normally did not make one a citizen. The law of Magdeburg as adapted for the Polish cities, which was probably the most liberal in this regard of the great urban customs, extended the freedom of the city to all who could prove by written record (litterae genealogiae) or by witnesses that they were of legitimate birth and were Roman Catholics. An oath was also required. Roman law clearly distinguished citizenship from residence. City courts protected citizens outside the corporate limits, where many of them had to spend considerable time working or travelling to markets. This became a major point of contention, particularly since city courts almost always punished non-citizens more severely than citizens. Many penalised citizens who sued in courts outside the town, and some burgesses of cities outside the royal domain in France escaped their home governments’ jurisdiction by placing themselves directly under the crown. They became ‘merchants of the king’ with royal protection in specific instances, or ‘burgesses of the king’ who were subject to him in all matters. 1
