The maritime tax arboratica (Latin _arbo_r: wood, i.e., mast) was mentioned for the first time in the Dubrovnik Statute from 1272. Initially, this tax was paid only by foreign ships that used the port of Dubrovnik, and later it had to be paid also by domestic ships with a carrying capacity of more than 10 carrus (carrus: car, approximately 1900 kg). The tax arboratica was calculated according to the afore-mentioned unit of measurement for the carrying capacity of the ship and was paid to the treasury of the Maritime Office. The payment of this tax represented a type of constant state revenue which the Republic invested in the development of maritime affairs. The preserved books of payments of the tax arboratica date from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century.

The series is very important for researching the history of the involvement of Dubrovnik Jews in maritime affairs of the Republic in the 18th century. Many payments made by Jews were recorded in the books arboratica. The payments recorded indicate that the Jews in those books were referred to either as leaseholders of the tax arboratica or as co-owners of the ships. In years 1803-1806 the recorded data show that Jews fully took over the responsibility for collection of payment of this tax. Therefore, during that period only Jews were referenced as taxpayers. In one of the books from 1806, it is even specified that the list of tax debtors was entrusted to Jews for collection of arboratica (vol. 16, without numbering). The books of this series reference to Jews from Jewish Ragusan families such as Ambonetti, Campos, Coen, Levi, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Maestro, Pardo, Russo, Tolentino, Valenzin, Vitali.

There are no references to the Jewish people in this series.
The series covers the period from 1729 to 1797, and the volumes have three titles: Arboracci e scarmi alla Ponta, Arboracci e scarmi alle Pile and Arboracci e scarmi del Porto. Regardless of these titles, it is evident that these volumes do not contain any data on the payment of the fee arboratica, but rather the payments of scarmi fee (Italian: scarmo: thumb, a wedge on a boat to which a paddle is attached). This fee had to be paid by smaller domestic and foreign ships that docked in the city port and in the suburbs of Pile.

There are no references to Jewish people in this series.
According to the data, during the navigation, Ragusan sea-captains had to keep special books which they had to present to the authorities of the Office of Maritime Affairs upon their return to the port. Very few (only eight, in fact) of those books have been preserved in this series. Out of these eight books, two books provide data on trial proceedings conducted in Monaco against a Ragusan sea captain Ivan Maras (1766-1767).

When leaving Dubrovnik, sea captains were obliged to hand over to the Office of Maritime Affairs the list of crew members. It was also mandatory to list the names of co-owners of the ships. The ownership of the ship was divided into 24 shares (karats). The value of one share was between 100 to 1600 ducats of the Ragusan ducats depending on the age, size, and equipment of the ship. The co-owners of the ship, that had to be identified by the captain of the ship in the Office for Maritime Affairs, were obliged to testify under oath and declare the exact number of shares in their ownership. All this information was recorded in specialized books called Ruoli. Preserved Ruoli books contain data for the period from the mid-18th century to the early 19th century, and only some years of that period are missing.

This series is very important for the research of the maritime affairs of Dubrovnik Jews in the 18th century because the existing data give evidence that almost all Jews were co-owners of Ragusan ships. Therefore, references to many Ragusan Jewish families, such as Ambonetti, Barafael, Campos, Costantini, Conort, Janni, Levi, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Maestro, Pardo, Russi, Terni, Tolentino, Valenzin, Venturra, Vitali can be found in the archival material. The data also show that it was extremely rare that the co-owners of the ships were Jews who did not reside in the Dubrovnik Republic. One of those rare cases refer to a Jew by the name of Danon, from Sarajevo (vol. 1, f. 4). Most Jews owned between one half of the share to 3 shares in one or more ships. Less common are those cases in which Jews owned the half of one ship or more (12 shares) (e.g., vol. 1, f. 81). The data also show that Ragusan Jews very rarely owned the entire ship, which was recorded in the fonds Diversa de Foris (HR-DADU-30).

Judgments of the Maritime Court have been preserved for the period from the 40s to the 60s of the 18th centuries. They were reached by senators who managed the Maritime Office (Signori Senatori Officiali alla Sopraintendenza della Navigazione). Their authorities were limited to civil lawsuits, which were mainly related to conflicts between co-owners of the ships, conflicts between crew members and the captain or the owners of the ships, conflicts between the captain and co-owners of the ships, or conflicts concerning the construction of new ships.

In this series, which consists of only one volume, there is only a small number of references to Jews. The data provided in the series are deemed suitable for the research of the involvement of Ragusan Jews in the maritime affairs of the Republic in the 18th century. The references to the Jewish population are primarily to members of Ragusan Jewish families such as Levi Mandolfo and Tolentino. In disputes cited these Jews are referenced as co-owners of ships (e.g., vol. 1, f. 58v-62v).

The series consists of only two volumes and covers the period from the mid-18th century to the early 19th century containing the data on sequestrations of money and shares that were carried out based on judgments that had been reached by the Maritime Court. Judgments for the period from 1753 to 1757 are written a tergo in the first volume of this series. Sequestrations were usually written in a following format: D'ordine e mandato ut supra e ad istanza di Salamon Terni, Antonio Flori riviere riferi d'aver sequestrato li due caratti di ragione di Giovanni d'Antonio Cresci esistenti nel bastimento al presente diretto da capitano Giovanni Lubislavich (vol. 2, f. 106).

The series is very important for the research of the history of maritime affairs of the Jewish population in the Republic. The data shows that many Ragusan Jews were not only owners of ship shares, that is co-owners of ships, but they would also often grant so-called "maritime loans". Most often these references indicate various members of some Ragusan Jewish families such as Ambonetti, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Pardo, Russo, Terni, Tolentino, Valenzin.

The series contains civil lawsuits, investigations and judgments related to maritime affairs, and covers the period from the 60s of the 18th centuries to the early 19th century. The topics of these of lawsuits are diverse: various types of debts (most often irregular repayments or terminations of maritime loan repayment), disagreements over the payment of crew salaries, damage to merchandise, loss of shipping books, suspicions of misrepresentation of ship maintenance costs, avoidance of maritime insurance payment after shipwreck, etc.

The series contains a considerable amount of information about Jews, which is deemed relevant for researching the involvement of Ragusan Jews in maritime affairs during the 18th century. Most references indicate Jews who were members of some Ragusan Jewish families such as Ambonetti, Cittanova, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Pardo, Terni, Tolentino, Venturra. These Jews are in most cases referenced as providers of so-called maritime loans who filed a lawsuit against those who had borrowed the money from them (e.g., vol. 3, f. 259c). The loans referenced in the series were usually taken by sea captains who wanted to purchase various equipment for their ships. In such a case, and as a guarantee for the regular payment of the loan, the sea captains would sign a bill of exchange by pledging the ship, equipment or shares in that ship (if they owned any of them). Agreements on maritime loans are registered in the fonds Diversa Notariae Fund (HR-DADU-9) and in the series Diversa de Foris (HR-DADU-30.1) and Diversa navigationis (HR-DADU-56.9). In this series, Ragusan Jews sometimes appear as legal representatives of defendants and sometimes as members of insurance companies. The series also records the text of an oath that was taken by the Jews during their testimonies. This specific oath was taken at the request of the French authorities in 1810 by Sabato Vita Levi Mandolfo (vol. 11, ff. 294v-295v).