The series contains data on various debts and other types of obligations of individual citizens towards the Republic, which were registered in the period from the middle of the 15th to the beginning of the 17th century.

The only reference to Jewish people in this fonds dates to 1503. Benedict Levi, Aron Alemanus and Abraham Alemanus confirmed in this document that they had received 126 and 3/4 of gold Venetian ducats from the Rector of the Dubrovnik Republic and the Minor Council as the equivalent of 130 ducats (gold coins) they had previously lent to the Dubrovnik archbishop John (de Sacchis) (vol. 1, f. 110).

Aptai de misericordia is a very interesting institution of law that is specific to the Dubrovnik Republic. References to Aptai can already be found in 1272, in the Dubrovnik Statute. The term itself stands for a specific tribunal fee collected by the Rector. Later, the meaning of the term itself changed and aptai started to indicate a civil court proceeding in which that fee had to be paid. Finally, in the second half of the 14th century, the term aptai started to stand for a mode or process that was used to ensure the fulfilment of the debtor's obligation. That obligation was made, i.e., signed in the Chancellery, and it became official after the expiration of the deadline entered in the document. Based on the evidence, it is therefore clear that the entries in the books of the Aptai de misericordia had the power of a judgment and that there was no need to pursue further legal action against the debtor. The entries contain the following information: name and surname of the donor of the charity promissory note, name and surname of the recipient of the charity promissory note, and payment deadline. Valuable items nominated by the borrower to be mortgaged were also sometimes indicated, together with the details of instalment payments. In the margin, along with singular entries, data on debt repayment, were specified. Most of the records in this series follow this model: Jacobus d'Abram Pardo hebreus dedit aptaii de misericordia supra Vitum Michaelis, Andream Pasqualis Vuchotich, et Demetrium Mihailovich calceolarius presentibus simul et in solidum de ducati sexaquinta de g. totius summae (vol. 4, f. 14).

The series gives relevant data for the research of credit transactions of Dubrovnik Jews, who mostly are referenced in the documents of the series as donors, or providers of charity. All the Jews referenced to in this series were permanent residents of Dubrovnik. The first references to their names in the documents date to the end of the 16th century, and many more Jewish names can be found in the documents since the middle of the 17th century. The names of some members of Jewish families such as Abeatar, Abenun, Amadio, Azubi, Coen, Danon, Franco, Israel, Maestro, Oef (Ohev) and Tobi were recorded. Some of them very often cited as creditors, or those who lent money, and the names of Solomon Maestro, and a well-known Dubrovnik merchant Raphael Coen especially stand out among those names. Other Jews that should also be pointed out for their importance are two brothers: Jacob Coen de Herrera (Martin de Marchena), a brother of a famous Jew Abraham Coen de Herrera (Allonso Nuñes de Herrera). The records show also references to other Jewish people of that time, such as: Ambonetti, Ascoli, Asser, Baraffael, Bueno, Cagli, Campos, Coen, Costantini, Forte, Gaon, Levi, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Maestro, Nachas, Navarro, Pappo, Pardo, Russi, Saralvo, Terni, Tolentino, Valenzin, Vitali.

The series mainly contains data on commercial credits, which were registered in the period from the end of the 13th to the beginning of the 19th century. The records include date of the credit agreement, name of the creditor, name of the borrower, amount of the credit, duration of the credit, and contractual clauses of the credit agreement. The interest amount is not entered. Those who wanted to take a loan and did not reside in the Republic, and still wanted to register the credit agreement at the Public Notary of the Republic, could do this through their legal representative.

The series is very important for researching business transactions of Jewish people in the Balkans and the Mediterranean, as well as for a possible historical reconstruction of their commercial network, especially since the period of the early 70s of the 16th centuries, when the Jewish population in Dubrovnik significantly increased. Some well-known and very prominent members of the local Jewish community are referenced to in the series, such as Aron Coen and Abraham Coen de Herrera (i.e., vol. 96, f. 20v). In general, the series refers to members of the Dubrovnik Jewish community such as Abenun, Coen, Danon, Lanciano, Maestro, Miranda, Oef. Some Jews who were referenced did not live in Dubrovnik, but, overall, all Jews who are referenced in the documents occur in both functions: as creditors and as borrowers. In an attempt to better understand the significance of this series for the overall history of the Sephardim, it is advisable to refer to the doctoral thesis of Benedetto Ligorio (Roma, Sapienza, 2017), in which the author analysed the existing archival data on credits referencing the Jewish population between 1560 and 1654. The analysis of Ligorio provides relevant data that prove that in most of these documents Christians (primarily Dubrovnik noblemen) were stated as creditors for Jewish people.

The series consists of subseries Diplomata et acta, until 12th century (HR-DADU-7.3.1), Diplomata et acta, 12th century (HR-DADU-7.3.2), Diplomata et acta, 13th century (HR-DADU-7.3.3), Diplomata et acta, 14th century (HR-DADU-7.3.4), Diplomata et acta, 15th century (HR-DADU-7.3.5), Diplomata et acta, 16th century (HR-DADU-7.3.6), Diplomata et acta, 17th century (HR-DADU-7.3.7), Diplomata et acta, 18th century (HR-DADU-7.3.8) and Diplomata et acta, 19th century (HR-DADU-7.3.9)

There are no references to Jewish people in the series.

The series consists of transcripts and translations of rulers’ charters and various other documents. These documents are mainly issued by Ottoman sultans. Other documents in the fonds are issued by the rulers of some states such as Spain or Hungary and the Papal States.

The series contains many letters and official documents. Letters to the Republic were written by various Ottoman dignitaries, from the grand vizier to local authorities of the towns and places near the Dubrovnik border. Official documents are orders and charters of sultans, orders of the governors of the Ottoman provinces and various documents of kadis. The documents in the series Acta Turcarum provide an excellent insight into all aspects of relations between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Dubrovnik, from interstate to personal. The series contains a small number of documents in other languages: Armenian, Arabic and Judeo-Spanish.

The series also contains a small number of documents in Judeo-Spanish, written in Latin alphabet and Hebrew (vol. E17b, E18a, E18b, D, XXIII). It also contains inventories of main figures of Jewish families and of the houses in which they lived (1756, 1808), as well as an inventory of Jews who immigrated to Dubrovnik in the period from 1730 to 1756. In addition, there are two letters in Italian: a letter written by Abram Bussara, the consul of the Dubrovnik Republic in Algeria (1790), and a letter written by Sabato Valenzin to the Austrian authorities of Dubrovnik district (1873) (vol. D, XXIII).

The fonds contains various types of powers of attorney registered in the period from the 15th to the beginning of the 19th centuries, in which, in addition to citizens of the Republic of Dubrovnik other non-resident citizens are also referenced, either in the roles of proxies or principals. The content of these documents was mainly related to various types of business activities conducted both in Dubrovnik and in foreign countries.

The fonds is very important for the historical reconstruction of the Jewish business network in the Mediterranean and in the Balkans. The references in the fonds provide information on Jews who lived not only in the Dubrovnik Republic but also in other countries, mainly in the countries of the Ottoman Empire and the countries of the Apennine Peninsula (most often in the Italian cities of Ancona and Venice). The content of these powers of attorney mainly relate to collection of debts, conduct of commercial affairs, representation in court, and out-of-court settlements of commercial disputes. According to the data in the fonds, Jews would mostly choose other Jews as their legal representatives and would seldom choose Catholics in this role. One of the exceptions is Jacob Tobi, who in 1594 authorized a famous Florentine merchant Bartolomeo Borgiani to conduct business on his behalf in Florence (vol. 31, ff. 104, 104v). Jewish people are referenced less in this fonds than in similar fonds Procurae di Cancellaria (HR-DADU-17). The most relevant difference between these fonds is that there is very scarce data on Jewish women in this fonds. Among the women referenced to in this fonds, for example, there is a reference to Mira, the widow of Moshe Alfandrino, who in 1585 authorized Moshe Malamed to collect debts in Sarajevo that remained unpaid after the death of her son Jacob (vol. 28, ff. 106v, 107). Another woman referenced in the fonds is Simha, the wife of Samuel Maestro. In 1613, with the permission of her guardians Jacob Coen de Herrera and David Senior, she authorized her husband to conduct all her business affairs on her behalf (vol. 34, ff. 132, 132v). Apart from Jacob Coen de Herrera, his brother Abraham Coen de Herrera is also referenced to in this fonds (vol. 33, f. 187, 187v). Some members of other Jeiwish families such as Abeatar, Abenun, Abenmelech, Abuaf, Azubi, Baruch, Bencastiel, Bendanon, Calderon, Calvo, Cidi, Cohen, Gaon, Graciano, Israel, Jeshurun, Lanciano, Luzzena, Maestro, Miranda, Mursa, Sasson, and Sarfatin are also referenced to in the fonds.

There is no reference to Jewish people in the series.
The series includes legacies from the late 15th century and in the period from the mid-16th century to the early 17th century. Volume 4 is entitled: Indice di legati fatti da diverse persone ad Comune, while volume 5 concerns a legacy by Zamagna from the end of the 17th century.