Jurydyka

Jurydyka (plural: jurydyki; from Latin iurisdictio, jurisdiction) is a generic Polish term for a settlement right outside (less commonly an enclave within) a royal city, that was independent from the municipal laws and rulers but instead remained under the jurisdiction (hence the name) of the ecclesiastic or secular lord who chartered, founded and owned it. Formed as a separate unit of territorial division between 14th and 16th centuries, the jurydyka-type settlements were a way in which the Roman Catholic Church and the Polish nobility avoided the strict terms of the royal town charters. Most notably, the jurydyka-type settlements were exempted from the specific trade laws allowing only selected merchants and craftsmen to take part in the markets held in the cities. In many Polish cities the jurydyka settlement formed a ring of suburbs and were eventually incorporated into the towns as their boroughs. This was the case of Warsaw, which in early 18th century was surrounded by no less than 14 such towns, some of them with as many as 5,000 inhabitants. All of them are now neighbourhoods of Warsaw.