Sejmiks arose from the 1454 Nieszawa Statutes , granted to the Szlachta by King Casimir IV The Jagiellonian . In the first third of the 15th Century general sejmiks were fist held, which gave rise in 1493 to the national Sejm .
In the .
Sejmiks were held usually on a large, open field. There were three kinds of sejmik:
- general (Polish: ''generalny'', Latin ''conventiones generales''), held in western Poland (, in Red Ruthenia at Sadowa Wisznia , and in Lithuania at Volkovysk . The general sejmiks were composed of delegates elected at the provincial sejmiks. Their goal was to agree on position for the Sejm Walny and issue instructions for the deputies on how they were supposed to vote during the Sejm Walny.
- provincial or territorial (Polish: ''ziemski'', Latin ''conventiones particulares, conventiones terrestrae'') (in every Voivodship ). Their importance was highest in the 15th century, and has diminished with the formation of Sejm Walny. Since then they had been relegated to dealing with local matters, and electing deputies for sejmik generalny and sejm walny.
- county ( Powiat ) (Polish: ''powiatowy'').
They could meet for special purposes:
- Pre-sejm (Polish: ''przedsejmowe'') sejmiks elected 1 to 6 deputies (''poslowie'') (depending on the size and importance of the given sejmik's territory) to the ''ordinary'' General Sejm (Polish: ''Sejm Walny'') that was held every two years for six weeks, and to any ''extraordinary'' General Sejm that might be called at any time in an emergency, to sit for two weeks. Sometimes pre-sejm sejmiks are referred to as electoral. In some cases, a sejmik could be colled for two viovodship - in that case it could elect more then 6 deputies.
- Electoral (Polish: ''elekcyjne'') sejmiks elected higher voivodship officials.
- Relational (Polish: ''relacyjne'') sejmiks heard the relations of deputies returned from the General Sejm, usually presenting the law (''konstytucje sejmowe'') decreed by the Sejm.
- Deputational (Polish: ''deputackie'') sejmiks elected deputies (''deputaci'') to Tribunal s ( Crown Tribunal and Lithuanian Tribunal ) since the times of king Stefan Batory .
- Administrative (or economic, Polish: ''gospodarcze'') sejmiks oversaw voivodship self-government.
Sejmiks were called by the king or the governor ( at national Sejms). A sejmik could be disrupted with Liberum Veto , which eventuality was guarded against by the formation (as at sejms) of a Confederation , which obliged Majority Voting .
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