Avram Iancu’s Proclamation of March 4th, 1849, and the Establishment of the Romanian Justice in Transylvania

The proclamation issued by general prefect Avram Iancu in Câmpeni on 4 March 1849 can be considered the „birth certificate” of the Romanian justice in Transylvania, defined, instituted and organized in the Land of Motz (Țara Moților) by the young lawyer (even if for a very short period of time). Our article critically presents the contents of the proclamation, as well as the Romanian juridical concepts and the Romanian legal institutions introduced by Iancu in spring and summer 1849, in the harsh context of the ongoing severe national defence war unfolded in the Western Carpathians (Munții Apuseni). Iancu’s appointment of tribune Ioan Sterca Șuluțiu and of Iosif Sterca Șuluțiu as primary judge (county judge) in Câmpeni (4 March 1849) and administrator of the Zarand county (May–July 1849) are also detailed and explained by means of several documents and letters dated January–July 1849. Based on the ethnohistorical research unfolded by Teofil Frâncu, George Candrea (1888) and Joe Gherman (1937) in the Land of Motz and the Western Carpathians, we finally analyse the village seats of law (scaunele sătești) and community courts (judecătoriile comunale) pertaining to the Romanian consuetudinary law (Jus Valachicum) between 1849–1937.