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The Felsőbüki Nagy family 251
chapter, Seb6k presents the chances of upward social mobility of¬
fered by carrying the highest judicial offices.
The judicial system of the Kingdom of Hungary underwent a
significant restructuring in the early 1720s. The supreme court of
justice, the so-called Curia Regia was composed of two parts. Its
upper section was the Court of Appeals, Tabula Septemviralis,
originally composed of seven judges. It was extended to having fif¬
teen members by article 24 of 1723, and, besides ecclesiastical and
secular lords, also lesser noble judges were appointed as septemvir.
Article 25 of 1723 made the lower section of the Curia Regia, the
Royal Court of Justice, into a permanent tribunal situated in Pest.
Chaired by the personalis, its further judges were an aristocrat
and a bishop, then the vicepalatinus, the vice judex curiae regiae,
four magistri protonotarii (one appointed by the palatine, one by
the judex curiae regiae, i.e. the lord chief justice of Hungary, and
two by the personalis) and six further judges, assessores. Four of
these were appointed by the king and two by the archbishop of
Esztergom. In addition, in 1723, four district tribunals were set up
in Hungary. As we have seen, vicepalatinus Istvan Felsöbüki Nagy
was outshone by Jozsef Fels6buki Nagy, who could climb one step
higher on the ladder, to the chair of the Royal Court of Justice,
while Päl Felsöbüki Nagy served in the Court of Appeals. As noted
earlier, some nominations were the privilege of the high dignitaries
of Hungary. The other judges of the supreme court of justice were
all appointed by the king or the queen.
Richard Seb6k’s first analysis is extended to cover those judges of
the Royal Court of Justice that successively filled the offices of the
three protonotarii, that of the personalis (of which there were two),
that of the judex curiae regiae, and that of the palatine — just as Ist¬
van Fels6buki Nagy did. In the eighteenth century, the protonotarii
were no longer the clients of their patrons, the personalis, the lord
chief justice and the palatine, but these judicial offices were seen
as steps in a system of royal offices, the next more prestigious than
the previous one. Seb6k’s second investigation compares the career
of Pal Felsébiiki Nagy to those other judges of the Royal Court of
Justice who jumped the office of the protonotarius of the lord chief
justice, being promoted from protonotarius of the personalis to
protonotarius of the palatine — just as he was. The third analysis of
Chapter 3 is focussed on those cases in which the father abdicated in
favour of his son as a judge of the Royal Court of Justice — although