Until the 13th century, public notaries were private persons (Dubrovnik priests) who were recognized by the public as having legal and credible authority. The office of the public notary was established already in 1278, when an Italian Tomasino de Savere was employed as the public notary of the Republic. From that moment onwards, the Republic began to uninterruptedly keep records of the activities of this public service, storing various books and documents, which lasted until the fall of the Republic in 1808. During the 15th century, the authorities made several key decisions on the organization of the central administration of the Republic, the offices of which were in the Rector's Palace. Based on the decisions that were made, the central administration of the Republic consisted of the following offices: The Public Notary (legal private affairs), the State Chancellery (legal public affairs), the Judicial Chancellery (criminal justice affairs), the Office of the State Secretary (legal state affairs) and the Slavic Chancellery, which would eventually be transformed into the Turkish Chancellery.