Justice and Litigation in the Portuguese community of Hamburg in the seventeenth century: The Interplay between Communal, Royal and Imperial jurisdiction

• Applicant: Dr. Hugo Martins, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Early Modern History
• Term: from 2021 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 450600198

This project is focused on the legal history of the Portuguese-Jewish community of Hamburg in the seventeenth century, more specifically on the workings of its communal justice. Based on the protocol books of the Portuguese Nation of Hamburg written between 1652-1682, the legal proceedings of the Reichskammergericht, those of the Hamburg state courts (Niedergericht, Obergericht, Admiralitätskollegium), as well as those of the Danish Royal Chancellery, the aim of this project is to analyse how Portuguese communal justice worked side by side with the state justice of Hamburg and the jurisdictions of both the Holy Roman Empire and the Danish Kingdom in legal proceedings involving members of the Portuguese Nation, during the seventeenth century. More broadly, this study will allow an in-depth exploration of the complex interactions between these legal frameworks, with the ultimate aim of assessing the impact of local justice on the adjudication and jurisprudence of the Portuguese community, during what is considered to be one of the most important periods of its history.

• DFG Programme: WBP Position