COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE COUNTY INSTRUCTIONS OF 1847

Abstract

This essay analyses and compares the deputy instructions issued by the forty-nine counties of the Kingdom of Hungary (excluding Transylvania and Croatia) in 1847. These instructions fundamentally shaped the functioning of the Hungarian Diet. After the king had issued the summons to the Diet, the counties drafted the instructions through small committees. The documents provided guidance to the deputies on all matters considered important at the county level, and any devia- tion from these could result that the deputy would be recalled and replaced. As the parliamentary negotiations progressed and new issues emerged, the deputies often required additional instructions and suspended their activity until receiving fur- ther guidance. In addition, the deputies were usually obliged to submit weekly reports to their counties on the proceedings of the Diet. Despite their importance, only a limited number of deputy instructions have so far been published as sources (for example, those are Borsod, Zala, Somogy, Zemplén counties). This paper examines county positions on key issues, such as public taxation, the abolition of aviticitas, the abolition of serfdom, as well as economic, educational, religious, military, constitutional, social questions, and offers a comparative analysis of how different counties addressed these matters.