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21-1104: The council was first created following the location of Warsaw under the terms of the Magdeburg Law in the Middle Ages . The modern council is regulated by the Warsaw Act of 2002. It consists of 60 councillors elected in free elections for a five-year term. Incumbent chairperson of the council is Ewa Malinowska-Grupińska ( Civic Coalition ), elected at the first session on 7 May 2024. Śródmieście & Ochota (7) Praga-Południe & Rembertów (7) Mokotów (7) Wola (5) Bielany & Żoliborz (6) Białołęka & Praga-Północ (6) Targówek , Wawer & Wesoła (8) Ursynów & Wilanów (6) Bemowo , Ursus & Włochy (8) [REDACTED] Media related to Government of Warsaw at Wikimedia Commons Magdeburg Law Magdeburg rights ( German : Magdeburger Recht , Polish : Prawo magdeburskie , Lithuanian : Magdeburgo teisė ; also called Magdeburg Law ) were

42-566: A hundred cities, in Central Europe apart from Germany , including Schleswig , Bohemia , Poland , Pomerania , Prussia , the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (following the Christianization of Lithuania ), including present-day Belarus and Ukraine , and probably Moldavia . In these lands they were mostly known as German or Teutonic law. Since the local tribunal of Magdeburg also became

63-505: A permission to sell meat to Christians, or employ Christian servants. By at least some contemporary observers, the parallel infrastructure of Jews and gentiles was considered significant; in medieval Poland's royal city development policy, both German merchants and Jews were invited to settle in Polish cities. Among the most advanced systems of old Germanic law of the time, in the 13th and 14th centuries, Magdeburg rights were granted to more than

84-538: A set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages granted by the local ruler. Named after the city of Magdeburg , these town charters were perhaps the most important set of medieval laws in Central Europe . They became the basis for the German town laws developed during many centuries in

105-691: The Great Sejm adopted the Free Royal Cities Act (full title: "Miasta nasze królewskie wolne w państwach Rzeczypospolitej" - "Our Free Royal Cities in the States of the Commonwealth "), included as Article III into the Constitution of May 3, 1791 . The law granted a number of privileges for the residents of royal cities. Many of these privileges and rights have already been enjoyed by major royal cities, and

126-523: The Holy Roman Empire . The Magdeburg rights were adopted and adapted by numerous monarchs, including the rulers of Bohemia , Hungary , Poland , and Lithuania , a milestone in the urbanization of the region which prompted the development of thousands of villages and cities. Being a member of the Hanseatic League , Magdeburg was one of the most important trade cities, maintaining commerce with

147-512: The Imperial Reform of 1495. The first town to be granted Magdeburg rights in Poland was Złotoryja in 1211. Soon many towns were vested with the law including Wrocław , Opole , Inowrocław , Sandomierz , Gniezno , Poznań , Bochnia , Głogów , Bytom , Sieradz , Kraków , Legnica , Opatów , Konin , Piotrków , Racibórz in the 13th century, whereas Szczecin and Stargard were granted

168-517: The Low Countries , the Baltic states , and the interior (for example Braunschweig ). As with most medieval city laws, the rights were primarily targeted at regulating trade to the benefit of the local merchants and artisans, who formed the most important part of the population of many such cities. External merchants coming into the city were not allowed to trade on their own, but were instead forced to sell

189-570: The Teutonic Order and Duchy of Masovia , as well as some cities under direct Polish and Lithuanian rule, obtained Chełmno rights , a local variant of Magdeburg rights, which prevailed in the area roughly corresponding to today's northeastern quarter of Poland, including the current Polish capital of Warsaw . In addition to this, many towns in the Duchy of Pomerania in modern north-western Poland and other Baltic port cities were granted Lübeck law , thus

210-469: The superior court for these towns, Magdeburg, together with Lübeck , practically defined the law of northern Germany, Poland and Lithuania for centuries, being the heart of the most important "family" of city laws. This role remained until the old Germanic laws were successively replaced with Roman law under the influence of the Reichskammergericht , in the centuries after its establishment during

231-849: The Magdeburg rights in Kyiv , Minsk , Tetiiv , Veiviržėnai and Vinnytsia . Royal city In the history of Poland , a royal city or royal town ( Polish : miasto królewskie ) was an urban settlement within the crown lands ( Polish : królewszczyzna ). The most influential royal cities enjoyed voting rights during the free election period in Poland (1572–1791). These cities were Gdańsk , Warsaw , Kraków , Poznań , Lwów , Wilno , Toruń , Lublin , Kamieniec and Elbląg . Other important royal cities included Gniezno (ecclesiastical capital of Poland and former capital of early medieval Poland), Płock (former capital of medieval Poland), Piotrków (second most important political center of Poland in

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252-523: The Magdeburg rights. In 1832, the city of Chernivtsi was granted Magdeburg rights by the Austrian authorities. The old towns of Kraków , Lviv , Vilnius and Zamość , considerably developed under the Magdeburg rights, are World Heritage Sites , and Kazimierz Dolny , Lublin , Paczków , Poznań , Przemyśl , Rydzyna , Sandomierz , Stary Sącz , Tykocin and Wrocław are also designated Historic Monuments of Poland . There are memorials to

273-834: The Pious in 1253. Following the formation of the Polish–Lithuanian union in 1385, Magdeburg rights spread to Lithuania, first granted to the chief cities of Vilnius , Brest and Kaunas , although more slowly than earlier in Poland, especially late in the east and in private towns . In the 15th and 16th centuries, the rights were granted to many other towns, including, chronologically, Trakai , Grodno , Kyiv , Polotsk , Minsk , Novogrudok , Rechytsa , Slonim , Barysaw , Mogilev , Mazyr , Mir , Pińsk , Alytus , Nyasvizh , Šiauliai , Biržai , Lida , Kėdainiai and Vitebsk . Magdeburg rights in Lithuania were initially modeled after

294-1047: The Polish cities of Kraków and Lublin , and then after Vilnius. Hundreds of towns in Poland and Lithuania, some now located in Belarus, Latvia and Ukraine , were formerly governed on the basis of the location privilege known as the "settlement with German law", excluding local variants of Magdeburg rights, with some of the more notable cities being, chronologically, Lublin , Zielona Góra , Tarnów , Olkusz , Sanok , Bydgoszcz , Rzeszów , Lwów , Będzin , Kielce , Krosno , Wieliczka , Częstochowa , Jarosław , Przemyśl , Chełm , Kazimierz Dolny , Łódź , Kamieniec Podolski , Łuck , Żytomierz , Rivne , Kowel , Siedlce , Leszno , Tarnopol , Rydzyna , Augustów , Płoskirów , Zamość , Daugavpils , Brody , Orsza , Biała Cerkiew , Nowogród Siewierski , Czernihów , Nizhyn , Krzemieńczuk , Vinnytsia , Poltava , Stanisławów , Jēkabpils , Suwałki , Białystok , Uman , Palanga , Telšiai , Cherkasy and Marijampolė . The rights reached

315-684: The early and mid-16th century as the main location of the Sejm , and then the main Crown Tribunal location alongside Lublin, thus one of the two judiciary capitals of Poland), Grodno ( de facto capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 1580s and then the general sejm location alongside Warsaw), Bydgoszcz and Kalisz (temporary locations of the Crown Tribunal), and Sandomierz , Przemyśl , Kazimierz . On April 18, 1791,

336-695: The easternmost cities of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , including Roslavl , Smolensk and Starodub , now part of Russia . The advantages of the Magdeburg rights were not only economic, but also political. Members of noble families were able to join the city patriciate usually unchallenged. There were cases of changing the type of municipal rights, such as in Błonie from Magdeburg to Chełmno rights , and in Bielsk Podlaski and Tykocin from Chełmno to Magdeburg rights. Most towns ruled by

357-410: The goods they had brought into the city to local traders, if any wished to buy them. Jews and Germans were sometimes competitors in those cities. Jews lived under privileges that they carefully negotiated with the king or emperor . They were not subject to city jurisdiction. These privileges guaranteed that they could maintain communal autonomy, live according to their laws, and be subjected directly to

378-461: The old common law of Poland in private relations. Local variants of Magdeburg law were created, such as Środa law based on the rights granted to Środa Śląska by Henry the Bearded in 1235, Kalisz law, a variant of the Środa law, based on the rights granted to Kalisz by Bolesław the Pious before 1268, and Poznań law, a variant of Magdeburg rights, based on the rights granted to Poznań by Bolesław

399-481: The original Magdeburg law was relatively rare in what is now northern Poland. In the medieval Kingdom of Hungary , the first town to receive the Magdeburg rights was Székesfehérvár in 1237, followed by Trnava (1238), Nitra (1248), Levoča (1271) and Žilina (1369). Towns and cities including Bardejov , Buda , Bratislava and Košice adopted the Southern German Nuremberg town rights, rather than

420-402: The rights in 1243 by the duke of Pomerania. The Law of Magdeburg implemented in Poland was different from its original German form. It was combined with a set of civil and criminal laws, and adjusted to include the urban planning popular across Western Europe – which was based (more or less) on the ancient Roman model. Meanwhile, country people often ignorant of the actual German text, practiced

441-448: The royal jurisdiction in matters concerning Jews and Christians. One of the provisions granted to Jews was that a Jew could not be compelled to be a Gewährsmann /informant; that is, he had the right to keep confidential how he had acquired objects in his possession. A Jew with this right could voluntarily divulge who had gifted, sold, or loaned him the object, but it was illegal to coerce him to say. Other provisions frequently mentioned were

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