B.C.M. Jacobs.
Opened sources. Records of customs and other legal manuscripts in the Brabant Collection of Tilburg University Library.
Noordbrabants Historisch Jaarboek 19 (2002) 117 - 135.
The library of the Provincial Society of Arts and Sciences in North Brabant, which was given in use to Tilburg University in 1986, holds an important collection of manuscripts. In 1994 these manuscripts, together with the manuscripts the University Library already owned, have been described and listed in a two-volume catalogue by Jeroen M.M. van de Ven. 36 acquisitions were added in 1997. This article draws attention to some legal historical sources from this collection: first, to the notation of local customary law or customs, and in addition to this the miscellanies for legal practice at the Council and Feudal Court of Brabant. As of 1531 it was made compulsory in the Netherlands by the sovereign lord to record customs and request for their approbation. At first, this order did not have the desired result. For this reason the order was to be repeated three times (in 1546-1547, 1570 and 1606). The customs records are a substantive part of the legal historical manuscripts in the collection (now called "Brabant Collection") of Tilburg University library. These records relate to several parts of Brabant. The customs of the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, however, form a major part of these customs records. One of the manuscripts from 's-Hertogenbosch is discussed more in particular. In this manuscript legal forms can be found which prescribe how to proceed in a criminal trial. As sources with normative rules concerning criminal trials are very scarce, this manuscript provides a good insight in the complicated criminal procedural law of the local magistrates' bench of 's-Hertogenbosch. With one exception, all miscellanies for legal practice at the Council and Feudal Court of Brabant concern the Council of Brabant in Brussels. This one exception concerns a manuscript that deals with legal procedures at the republican counterpart of the Brussels Council, established in 1586 and eventually situated in The Hague from 1591 onward. Because the procedural rules applied by the Council in Brussels were also held applicable in The Hague, the other manuscripts were also used by those involved in legal practice at the Council in The Hague.
Translation: Auke van den Berg, Rosmalen.