The anabaptists founded their communities with the permission of the landlords, usually near the already existing villages. These communities, which were administered by the anabaptists themselves, had a special, privileged position. They paid the landlords only the fees, goods or services they had agreed on before they arrived.
They called their village court (Haushaben) or brother’s court (Bruderhof). The head of the entire village (Gemeinde), which encompassed all the fraternal communities was the bishop (Vorsteher). The administration of the individual fraternal courts was in the hands of the brothers of emergency aid (Diener der Notdurf). The ministers of the Word were in charge of spiritual matters. The concept of emergency aid servants covered a number of different functions and tasks. The most important of these was the overall report of the Court by the administrator (Haushälter). In larger courts, such as Sobotište, he had a helper and deputy, and we used to be Weinzierl.
Buyers (Einkäufer) formed another group of emergency aid servants. They were buying for the community and selling finished products. They were the only ones to trade and come into contact with the money and hand it over to the custodian at the common treasury every week.
The economic part of the court was Bauhof, where stables, granaries and other buildings belonging to the farm were located. Agriculture was not the dominant way of income for the anabaptist communities, but was only a necessary part of the livelihood. The main trade items were crafts. The chronicles mention over 30 types of crafts that the brothers performed. Craftsmen of the same craft worked together. One of the masters has always been designated as a master, referred to as Fürgestellten. The agricultural work was managed by the administrator (Meier) and the manager of the cellars (Kellner). The duties of individual professions were governed by the Ordnungen (Ordnungen) issued by the Vorsteher. There were other management functions as required by the courts.
After the collapse of the anabaptists’ joint ownership in the 1880s-1890s, most of the functions associated with the administration of the Court ceased to exist. The last appointment of emergency aid servicemen in Sobotište, which is captured in the chronicles, took place on 1 May 1694. The servants were elected Johannes Beller, blacksmith Johannes Kellner and knife cutter Georg Schultz, all from Sobotiste.
After the re-Catholicization of the Haban community, the Novodvorany Society, with representatives elected annually, covered it.
