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).

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 series contains the decisions of the Minor Council made in the period from the beginning of the 15th to the beginning of the 19th century. With the cessation of Venetian rule in 1358, the Minor Council and the Rector lost much of their authority. Since then, the Council had mostly dealt with cases related to communal life, that is, it would resolve current affairs that should not burden either the Senate or the Major Council. From today's point of view, it could be said that the Minor Council had executive authority. The Rector, whose mandate lasted only one month, was at the head of the Minor Council and he presided over both the Senate and the Major Council. The Minor council headed by the Rector represented the Republic and held audiences with ambassadors from foreign countries. In cooperation with the Senate, the Minor Council oversaw all correspondence with the consuls of the Dubrovnik Republic, ambassadors (poklisari) and other diplomatic and consular representatives of the Republic in foreign countries, mostly in the Ottoman Empire and in the countries of the Apennine Peninsula. The Minor Council was also in charge of issuing letters to foreign rulers and other dignitaries.

The series contains a lot of information about Jewish people. The data are very important to analyse the attitude of the Dubrovnik Republic towards Jews. The series also provides a large quantity of data to learn about their private lives, as well as about the business of Jewish merchants. In addition, the series is extremely important for the research of private and business lives of Jewish women. The first information about Jews in this series dates to the 20s of the 14th century with, for example, a reference about a Jew by the name of Chrisomus who sold a bell and some copper in Dubrovnik (1428; vol. 4, f. 192v). Bandit attacks on Jews who travelled to Dubrovnik using the ships of the Republic and, most likely, intended to go this way to the Ottoman Empire, at the end of the 15th century, are referenced many times. There are many references in this series to well-known figures from the Sephardic world some of whom only passed through Dubrovnik, and some lived there such as Gracia Mendez and her business representatives Abner Alfarin and Isac Ergas, physicians Amatus Lusitanus, Abraham and his son-in-law Joseph Salama, a poet Didacus Pyrhhus, a merchant Daniel Rodrigues (16th century), a rabbi Aron Cohen (17th century), and a merchant Raphael Cohen (18th century). The series also contains information about sending Jewish physicians, especially Abraham and Joseph Salama, to the courts of Ottoman dignitaries in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through the decisions of the Minor Council, we can, for example, follow the destiny of the members of the Dubrovnik Jewish community during the court trial against a Jewish merchant Isaac Jeshurun, accused of a ritual murder of a girl from Dubrovnik (1622). If in fear for their own lives, many Jews were allowed to leave Dubrovnik with a special permission of the Minor Council. The series also contains many documents in which free arrival and limited stay to Jewish merchants who were in debt were granted (Lat. salvus conductus). This council would also issue permits for construction projects in the ghetto and for housing purposes outside the ghetto. Occasionally, the Minor Council would also make decisions on the obligation imposed upon Jews to wear a special sign. The series mentions many Jewish women, most often widows, who were given permission by the Minor Council to perform certain legal work with the consent of their guardians. Most often, these were women who wanted to appoint a certain person to represent them to conduct business either in the Dubrovnik Republic or in another country.

There are no references to Jewish people in the series.

The series consists of proposals for various debates submitted to the Senate and the Major Council by the Minor Council in the second half of the 15th century.

The series contains registers of criminal cases recorded during the period of five years of the 15th and 16th centuries. Criminal cases mainly relate to physical violence, murder, verbal violence, and property crimes. Each case consists of a lawsuit filed by a private person or by the state (ex officio). Witnesses are listed in the case and, if necessary, their written testimonies are also added. It is a characteristic of the Dubrovnik Criminal Court that it rarely pronounced verdicts, most likely because most disputes were settled in conciliation of the warring parties. The mark "fatta" entered on the margins of the documents indicates that a judgment was pronounced. Some verdicts were written at the end of the case, and in most cases the verdicts were registered in special books kept in the fonds Criminalia (HR-DADU-23).

The series Lamenta de criminali post terraemotum is a first-rank source for researching everyday life of the Dubrovnik Jewish community in the broadest sense of the word. The archival material also provides an opportunity to analyse the relations of Dubrovnik Jews with both: their fellow citizens and the authorities of the Republic. In total, there are about 600 cases in which Jewish people are referenced to in the role of prosecutors, defendants, or witnesses, which is about 2% of the total number of cases recorded in this series. The members of eleven large Dubrovnik Jewish families dominate (Ambonetti, Campos, Fermo, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Maestro, Pardo, Russo, Terni, Valenzin, Vitali). A catalogue of litigations belonging to this series related to Jews (1667-1805) was compiled in 2016. Disputes are presented in a precisely defined form with the following information: date of the lawsuit, name of the plaintiff, name of the defendant, type of crime, place and date of the crime, verdict, and archival signature.

The series consists of registers in which, during the period from the 15th to the beginning of the 19th century, the names of legal guardians were entered, most often for women (usually widowed) and minor children. The data show that the guardians referenced to in the files would not represent those women and children only in the execution of wills. Since this is one of few series where references on women and minor children can be found, it is very useful to researchers because it provides valuable data for the genealogical reconstruction of Jewish families in Dubrovnik. Most often the records reference to women and children from some Dubrovnik Jewish families such as Abuaf, Campos, Cohen, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Maestro, Pappo, Pardo, Penso, Terni, Tolentino, Valenzin. The guardians of Jewish women and minor children were usually Dubrovnik Jews. According to the data, a Jewish woman, or a Jewish minor, could have between one to three legal guardians. Guardians belonged sometimes to Dubrovnik nobility, particularly in cases where they would actually serve as lawyers. Occasionally, other Dubrovnik citizens would also appear in these documents in the role of guardians of Jewish women and children. The series is closely related to the decisions of the Minor Council (Acta Minoris Consilii HR-DADU-4.1). More precisely, the proposal would be first accepted by the Minor Council, i.e., the permission would be given to a woman (most often a widow) to perform a certain job with the permission of her legal guardian. The name of the guardian would be then entered in the registers of this notarial series most often on the same day. If the Minor Council issued a permit to a woman to appoint, with a prior consent of her guardian, a person to represent her in the conduction of her business in the Republic or in any other state, this information would be then entered in the registers of the Procurae di Cancellaria (HR-DADU-17). This is another indicator of overlapping competencies of the Public Notary and the Chancellery. For example, on May 6, 1793, according to the data, the Minor Council allowed Rachel, the widow of David Luzzena, to appoint, with the permission of her guardian, a person to represent her in all her business affairs (HR-DADU-4.1, Acta Minoris Consilii, vol. 110, f 83). On the same day, the names of her guardians, a nobleman Antun Caboga and a citizen Petar Čingrija, were entered in the books of this series (vol. 13, f. 19c). A day later, in the books of Procure di Cancellaria, it was registered that Rachel Luzzena, with the permission of her guardians, appointed her son Samuel as her representative, or, legally, as her alter ego (HR-DADU-17, vol. 82, ff. 158v, 159).

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 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).

There is no reference to Jewish people in this series.
The series consists of investigations conducted by officials in charge of compliance with the law against luxury (officiali sopra le pompe; officiali della pramatica; officiali sopra la pramatica).