Just as the Chełm and Halych sejmiks, one earlier and the other later, broke away from General Wiszeński's rule, the general himself began to break away from the authority of general congresses and sejms. This can already be seen from the January 1577 resolutions of the Lviv Confederation, which decided that if the general confederation in Warsaw did not take into account the points given to the deputies in the instructions, they would remain with their confederation. The main symptoms are the breaking away from the authority of the Sejm in the field of taxation, as seen in the protest against the Sejm resolution by the landowners of Sanok in 1621-^), with the resolutions of the Wisła sejmik changing the date of collections or leaving the collection of taxes adopted at the Sejm at the voivodeship 5). In every other respect, the importance of the Sejm over the authority of the regional assembly was placed in the voivodeship on the general of Wisze, who maintains contact with all neighboring voivodeships, exchanges opinions, and even tries to restore the disappearing general of Lesser Poland, which once held the pre-sejm assembly for all the provinces of Lesser Poland in Korczyn.
*) Galician Laudum of July 28, 1575. In the Wiszen instructions, deputies were sometimes instructed to refer to the Galician articles. No. 59 art. 48. ') Wisze Laudum of June 25, 1648 sings: The laudum of all private lands of Lviv, Przemyśl and Sanok should be approved, and since the landowners of Lviv decided with the laiulum to curb their excesses, we want it to be as important as if it had been decided here together at the same assembly, because it was out of their willingness and need that they made it. Mcie. ') No. 155 laudum of January 1627 and No. 158 laudum of August 31, 1627
VIII
On the basis of the acts contained in this volume, it is possible to look deeper into the reasons for the growth of sejmik life in the years covered here, i.e. in the period 1572-1648. This is a period of five interregnums, and if we take into account that at the very beginning of the period from 1572 to 1587 there are three interregnums, covering a total of three years and one month, we will easily understand that these interregnums, in which the entire power passed into the hands of the nobility, became the source of the growth of sejmik life.
The symptoms of this growth can be traced in several directions on the basis of the acts collected here. First of all, in attempts to reform the supreme judiciary 1). This issue, raised by the nobility at numerous sejmiks of the Ruthenian Voivodeship, gave rise to the ceremonial opening of the General Court of the Ruthenian Voivodeship on February 28, 1575 in Lviv, the amendment of which was discussed at the sejmiks until November 2, 1577. The deliberations on the ordination, as well as on the "improvement of these courts, occupied the minds of the nobility at the sejmiks, which were more important than others because the issue was vital and was diligently discussed by the landowners at the sejmiks throughout the Polish Republic. We see here in Wiśnia the harmony of the landowners' aspirations with the rest of the nobility towards making the king the supreme judiciary, and the inconsistency in the details regarding the implementation of the intention; we see attempts to unify the kingdom in terms of the law of justice, to extend the highest landowner court in the voivodeship also to the clergy and the bourgeoisie, but there is also a counteraction by the clergy and the burghers against these attempts by the landowners -). This activity of the voivodeship assemblies was not in vain, even though the voivodeship courts did not enjoy popular sympathy. The landowners' idea of reform was taken up at the Sejm and the highest judiciary was created, not for one voivodeship, but for the entire Crown.