Town privileges

The charta of the town privileges of Wroclaw. These were granted in 1261. They follow the Magdeburg law.

Town privileges were important things. They were special treaties or charters used in the Middle Ages. In such a charter, a sovereign, a monarch granted the town or city special rights. These usually included

• The right to have a market, to form guilds
• Some freedoms, like to determine the government of the town or city, or to judge criminals.
• Some people who permanently lived in the town or city (called Burgher's) had special rights. Getting these rights was a special privilege (and not granted to everyone).

There were only a few of these charters, notable for them was perhaps the Lübeck law, the Magdeburg rights and the Kulm law.