From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jurydyka (plural: jurydyki; from Latin iuridicus, lawful or legal) is a generic Polish term for a village right outside (less commonly an enclave within) a royal city, that was independent from the municipal laws and rulers. Formed as a separate unit of territorial division between 14th and 16th centuries, the jurydyka-type settlements were a way in which the Church and the Polish gentry avoided the strict terms of the royal town charters. Most notably, the jurydyka-type villages were exempted from the specific trade laws allowing only specialized merchants and craftsmen to take part in the markets held in the cities. In many Polish cities the jurydyka villages formed a ring of suburbs and were eventually incorporated into the towns as their boroughs. This was the case of Warsaw, that in early 18th century was surrounded by no less than 14 such towns, some of them as large as 5,000 inhabitants. All of them, including Grzybów, Mariensztat, Leszno and Solec are now neighbourhoods of Warsaw.
