The fonds contains the decisions of the Major Council, the Minor Council, and the Senate, or of the three supreme institutions of government of the Dubrovnik commune. The books of the fonds date from the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century, and they contain various decisions on all aspects of the policy of the internal and foreign affairs of the Dubrovnik commune and are very important for the research of the earlier history of Dubrovnik.

The fonds contains very few mentions of Jewish people. The references found are from the first half of the 14th century, but they do not seem to be directly connected with the Jewish people. Namely, probably under the influence of church presentations and performances, the people of Dubrovnik would disguise themselves as Jews or Carbonos before Easter, blackening their faces and dressing up in a certain way. Disguised like this they would attack passers-by and use this as an opportunity to deal with their enemies. Authorities forbade them to disguise themselves in such a way, and the first ban under threat of a fine of 25 perpers dates to the time before Easter in 1319. Prohibitions of disguise to Carbonos or Jewish people were repeatedly issued in 1320, 1323, 1329 and 1335. In 1331, the authorities in the Republic allowed such a disguise.

The fonds contains the decisions of the Major Council, the supreme body of power, in which all male adult nobles were assembled. Although the Minor Council and the Senate eventually assumed certain responsibilities of the Major Council, the Major Council retained supreme authority until the fall of the Republic (1808). The Major Council passed regulations of a permanent nature (laws), had the last word in decision-making in the most important state affairs, granted pardon and amnesty, as well as elected the Rector, members of the Senate and the Minor Council, and other state officials.

The granting of Isaac Jeshurun’s appeal is most likely the only mention of Jewish people in this fonds. In 1622, Jeshurun ​​was accused of ritual murder of a girl and, during his interrogation, was subjected to torture. When the real killer was discovered, investigations into Jeshurun's alleged complicity in the murder continued. At the end of 1622, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In January 1625, the Senate accepted Jeshurun's petition for pardon and forwarded the petition to the Major Council, as this was the only authority that could make decisions on pardons. The record shows that all petitions or pardon would be presented every year before the Major Council, at a session that used to be held before Easter, on Wednesday, during the Holy Week. On March 26, 1625, the Major Council accepted Jeshurun's proposal to change his prison sentence to life-time exile from the Republic (vol. 34, ff. 200v, 201).

The fonds contains the decisions of the Rector of the Dubrovnik Republic in the period from the 70s of the 13th century to the beginning of the 14th century, and from the end of the 14th century to the 60s of the 18th century. The reference to the title “Rector” can be traced back to the 12th century. When the Venetian rule in Dubrovnik ended in 1358, the election of the Rector became the jurisdiction of the Major Council. The candidates for the Rector had to be at least 50 years old and members of the Senate. The Rector’s mandate lasted only one month. With the strengthening of the institutions of the Dubrovnik commune, his role was reduced to a predominantly representative role, and there were hardly any decisions he could make independently. His duties were: to represent the Dubrovnik Republic before the Dubrovnik commoners and before the representatives of foreign states, to preside over the Minor Council, the Major Council, and the Senate, to keep and protect the seal of the Republic and the keys to the city gates. Since the Rector had a central position in the judicial council until the middle of the 15th century, the first volume of this fonds contains records related to various criminal and civil proceedings. In later times, the Rector's decisions mainly dealt with taxations (Cro. gabela) paid for wine production in the territory of the Dubrovnik Republic, decisions related to the amount of rent of real estate in the Republic and cases of the defendant's intentional absence from trial (Lat. contumacia).

The fonds contains only limited information on Jews that mainly relates to their renting of business and residential premises. For example, the names of Joseph Azubi, David Coen, the Lumbroso brothers and Samuel Maestro are referenced in the 20s of the 17th century, related to conflicts over the right to run stores in front of the ghetto, on the main street in Dubrovnik, named Placa, while Aron Coen and Samuel Maestro were referenced to in the records of 1631 since they were in conflict with a nobleman who had rented them a house with a garden in the eastern Dubrovnik suburb of Ploče (vol. 12, f. 24). There is also a brief entry about Esther, the widow of Solomon Luzzena, who in 1680 paid the debt of her late husband to Luka Stella (vol. 14, f. 89v).

One part of the fonds is related to the collection of fines for nobles who were unjustifiably absent from the sessions of the councils (vols. 1-3, 5, 14, 14b). Other volumes contain proposals for debates submitted to the Senate by the Minor Council (vols. 4, 7-13; 1591-1592, 1673, 1694-1808). The topics of these debates are mostly related to the internal affairs of the Dubrovnik Republic. If the motion for a debate is crossed out, the date on the margin of this entry indicates when this debate was held in the Senate. Nevertheless, that does not necessarily mean that the debate was de facto recorded in the Senate registers.

There are not many references to Jews in this fonds. Approximately, in one volume of the fonds, there is an average of 2 to 4 entries concerning Jews (e.g., vol. 10, ff. 14v, 29, 42, 75v; vol. 12, ff. 47, 49; vol. 13, pp. 63c). For example, a proposal to discuss the bankruptcy of Solomon Vitali, and his son and brother, was entered on 25/7/1772. The proposal was crossed out and a note on the margin indicates that the debate was to be held in Senate on the same day (vol. 11, f. 47). However, there is no record of that debate in registers of the Senate.

The fonds provides general information on political, economic, cultural, public, and private life in the Republic for the period from the beginning of the 14th to the beginning of the 19th century. According to the division of administrative affairs, notaries recorded private-law contracts, such as debit notes, dowry contracts, purchase contracts, powers of attorney, wills, agrarian contracts. However, the fonds also contains documents of a public-legal character for which the Chancellery was in charge.

The fonds is very important for the research of the history of the Jewish people. It provides data on business and private connections of Jews in Europe, mostly southeast, then North Africa and the Middle East, in the period from the 15th to the beginning of the 19th century. The earliest references are from the beginning of the 15th century. For example, in 1405, Simon, a coral merchant, son of Isaac of Marseille, was referenced as one of the first, perhaps even the first Jew to live in Dubrovnik for several years (vol. 11, f. 116). Among the most important documents in the fonds, four contracts can be found in which Gracia Mendes terminated business relations with her Italian partners. In 1552, Mendes had these contracts registered with the Dubrovnik Public Notary Office. These are the only documents that can serve as a proof that she stopped in Dubrovnik on her way to Istanbul (vol. 112, ff. 90-91v, 93v-94v). Until her death, her representative in Dubrovnik was Isac Ergas, so he himself, as well as some members of his family, were referenced several times in the books of this fonds. The data on other well-known figures of that time such as Daniel Rodrigues, Solomon Ascenasi, Solomon Oef (Ohev), Aaron Coen, David Pass (Passo), Abraham and Jacob Coen de Hererra. Many members of large Dubrovnik Jewish families of Ambonetti, Campos, Fermo, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Maestro, Pardo, Russo, Terni, Tolentino, Valenzin, Vitali are also frequently referenced. In addition, there are many references to Jews who either stayed in Dubrovnik for a very short time, or who only passed through it. Some of them never actually came to Dubrovnik but did business through Dubrovnik with the help of their intermediaries. Overall, the fonds preserves sales contracts, powers of attorney, debt contracts, maritime insurance contracts, receipts and disbursements, waivers of inheritance rights, exercise of rights acquired by will, settlement of trade and other disputes in which Jews also appear as both: parties to the dispute and as arbitrators. Only one will is registered in the fonds, and it was composed by the Benevenisti Nasci, who was sentenced to death in 1571 for the murder of Menachem Maraz (vol. 118 ff. 114-115). Italian translations of two ketubahs made in Dubrovnik in 1763 and 1769 were also registered in notarial books 25 years later (vol. 146, ff. 28-29, 81v-83v).