Inleiding

The right to promulgate city laws must be distinguished from the city charter - i.e. the basic document setting out the rights and duties of a city. Although the inhabitants of a city often obtained the right to promulgate city laws when the city charter was granted, this right could also be granted and obtained later.

More specifically, this right refers to the right of the aldermen of a city to change existing city rules and establish new, generally binding regulations on their own authority, often initially with the cooperation of the lord or sheriff. In Deventer, the aldermen had this power at least since 1283. Since 1423, the so-called ‘common weal’ had been involved in the creation of ordinances.

The city regulations are the product of this ordaining power. A selection of regulations was usually assembled over time in a collection book. The oldest book preserved in the Deventer city archives dates from 1448. It is known as "der stad boeck".

The normative regulations contained in such a collection concerned almost all facets of urban society. In addition to rules and punishments concerning public order and safety, all kinds of regulations concerning trade and markets and provisions concerning the legal relations between citizens, such a book also contained rules concerning the composition and functioning of the city’s government and administration.

The latter category of rules includes the alderman's oath. According to a general, fixed formula, a newly elected officeholder solemnly - invoking God as a witness - undertook to fulfil the obligations attached to his office. More specifically, this oath formula was the written record (in the vernacular) of an established practice of oral and public swearing-in rituals - an important stage in the formalisation and professionalisation of a city’s governance structure.

Fysieke beschrijving

Tightly-bound book in parchment, inscribed in a neat hand by a city scribe (Geert scryver (?))