Magdeburg rights
Magdeburg rights (German: Magdeburger Recht, Polish: Prawo magdeburskie, Lithuanian: Magdeburgo teisė; also called Magdeburg law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973), which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages granted by the local ruler. Named after the city of Magdeburg and based on Roman municipal and universal merchant traditions, these town charters were perhaps the most important set of medieval laws in Central Europe.