Hanseatic Law in Novgorod and Bruges: A Comparative Analysis of the Statutes of Hanseatic Offices

The article presents a comparative analysis of the legal foundations of the management of the offices of the Hanseatic League — Novgorod (based on the material of the surviving edition of its charter) and Bruges (based on the Charter of 1347). The study focuses on identifying mechanisms for adapting the unified principles of the Hansa to radically different legal and political contexts in the eastern (Novgorod) and western (Bruges) peripheries of the union. The author believes that, despite the general basis in the person of Lübeck city law, the management models of offices developed along different trajectories. In Novgorod, where maintaining extraterritorial status was required in an alien legal environment, a rigidly centralized system was formed with a sole headman appointed from the metropolis (Lubeck/Gotland). This headman concentrated in his hands exclusive administrative and judicial powers, including the application of archaic talion sanctions («life for life», «hand for wound»), probably borrowed from the local tradition, as well as strict control over the storage of trade letters and the resolution of disputes before the merchants left. Sanctions for violations were predominantly high monetary fines and deprivation of trade rights. In Bruges, interacting with the urban institutions of Flanders, the Hansa implemented a complex collegial model. The merchants were divided into territorial «thirds», each of which annually elected foremen. A panel of six foremen managed the office, making decisions by a majority vote both within itself and between thirds, with detailed regulation of the procedures of meetings and legal proceedings, including fines for delays or violation of order. For operational decisions, an expanded council was formed. The author believes that Hansa has created a unique precedent for harmonizing diverse legal traditions («unity in diversity») within a single economic space. The historical experience of adapting management models to local conditions, based on flexibility and corporate solidarity, is of great importance for understanding the evolution of international trade law and remains relevant to modern transnational integration.

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