Uwolnienie z poddaństwa jako czynność prawna w praktyce sądowej Prus Królewskich w II połowie XVII i w XVIII wieku

Manumission (manumissio, liberation, emancipation) was essential for the existingrights and obligations of a serf and his former master. It is interesting to analyse the formal side of this legal action and its content in terms of legal and actual consequences. The more so as awarding personal freedom was not at all uncommon in Prussia, and the literature onthis subject usually refers to social consequences only.Based on the rich source material, the author discusses the manumission as a legal actionin the practice of Prussia in the latter half of 17th and in the 18th centuries, focusingon its role, form, and the ways for insuring the new status of the former subject.