Archival description of the Fonds HR-DAPA-6 Notaries of Labin and Plomin (Notai d'Albona) 1420/1821

Abstract

The Fonds HR-DAPA-6 Notaries of Labin and Plomin merges archives created by the work of a total of 85 notaries and one notarial archives from the area of Labin and Plomin municipalities in the period 1420/1821. Given the fact that the Fonds covers the periods of the Venetian administration, the First and Second Austrian Administrations and the French Administration, it is possible to follow the development of the notarial profession over a particular period. During the Venetian administration between 1420 and 1797, notaries were natural persons with powers conferred by public law who, by decision of the Podestà, were allowed to draw up documents and extrajudicial documents within the municipalities where they were based. Following the 1803 reorganization of notaries during the First Austrian Administration, notaries became civil servants in charge of receiving documents and concluding contracts between parties. The archives contained in the Fonds were ex officio taken over, along with the archives of the Municipality of Labin, and were kept in the State Archives in Rijeka until 1964, where it was only basically arranged and catalogued. After being taken over by the State Archives in Pazin, the Fonds was archivally rearranged several times, namely in 2006, 2010 and 2013, when inventory lists of part of the material were created, and it was not until 2023 that it was fully arranged and a finding aid was created for the entire Fonds. Due to the extensiveness of the Fonds' finding aid, only the description at the Fonds level is published here, while the descriptions of lower archival units and the list of technical units have been omitted. Although the archives has not been fully preserved or has been partly destroyed and damaged, it provides a clear picture of the development of the notary's activities but also an insight into interpersonal relations and the contemporary laws and customs.