| Aalmoezeniersweeshuis | Orphanage in Amsterdam for children from poor families. |
| Abusua | Akan matrilineal family group. |
| Appoinctement | Temporary court order. |
| Askamoth | Jewish communal by-laws. |
| Balliaren | (From Spanish bailar) social gathering by enslaved people, often involving music and dance. |
| Bijzit | Non-marital partner (e.g. mistress, concubine). |
| Boedelmeesters | Estate trustees; institution in charge of managing the inheritances of Chinese citizens in Batavia who had died without appointing an executor of their estates. |
| Bok, Bokkin | Term used in Suriname and neighboring colonies for an Indigenous man or woman, respectively. |
| Bomba | Enslaved man in charge of discipline among the enslaved workforce. |
| Bottelier | VOC employee in charge of victuals. |
| Burgerlijke Stand | Civil registration, recording marriages, births, and deaths. |
| Caboceer | West African headman. |
| Calicharen, calisare | Also: cassare. West-African marriage alliance not recognized in Christianity. |
| Casados | ‘Married men’; Portuguese settlers granted property upon marrying local Indian women in the Estado da India under Afonso de Albuquerque (16th century). The term also came to be used for the communities descended from them. |
| Castizo | Racial designation used for individuals with one white and one mixed-race parent. |
Session of the court dealing with civil (i.e. non-criminal, non-political) matters, as well as its records. | |
| Classis | Governing body in the Dutch Reformed Church, operating at a regional level. |
| Commissarissen | See: Commissarissen van Huwelijkse Zaken. |
| Commissarissen van Huwelijkse Zaken | Magistrates in charge of marital affairs. |
| Compagniesdogters | ‘Company daughters’; young, unmarried women recruited by the VOC to travel to the East Indies to wed company servants. |
| Company servant | Employee of the Dutch East or West India Company. |
| Compositie | The payment of money by the accused to the prosecutor to avoid a criminal trial. |
| Congregante | (compare Jahid) Second-tier member of the Sephardic Jewish community in Suriname. |
| Criminele rolle | Session of the court dealing with criminal matters, as well as its records. |
| Curator ad lites | Legal representative appointed to advocate on behalf of someone without the capacity of independent legal action. |
| Debaucheren | Could mean either the act of committing ‘debauchery’ or the act of enticing someone to commit desertion or other forms of misconduct. |
| Defloratie | The act of deflowering or ravishing a virgin. |
| Dissolutie | Dissolution (of marriage). |
| Donatio inter vivos | A (notarized) donation of property during the donor’s lifetime. |
| Doop-, Trouw-, en Begraafboeken (DTB) | Records of baptisms, marriages, and funerals. |
| Echt-Reglement | Marriage regulations passed by the Dutch States General for the ‘Generality Lands’ in 1656. |
| Fasakh | Annulment granted by a judge in Islamic family law. |
| Fiscaal | Colonial official, usually with legal training, acting as a public prosecutor. |
| Freijer Compendium | Compilation of Islamic family law assembled by VOC Commissioner of Native Affairs D.W. Freijer in 1760. |
| Geboden | Short for huwelijksgeboden or marriage banns: announcements of upcoming nuptials made on three consecutive Sundays to give community members the opportunity to make any legal impediments to the marriage known. |
| Gecommitteerde tot den zaken van den Inlander | Commissioner of Native Affairs, colonial official with jurisdiction over the area surrounding Batavia, instituted in 1720. |
| Gesepareerd | Term used for married couples who were still formally married, but legally separated. |
| Geweldiger | Law enforcement official. |
| Gewesen huijsvrouw | Litt. former house-wife; ex-wife, separated or divorced. |
| Gijzeling | Civil detention, usually on account of debts. |
| Hoererij(e) | Fornication. |
| Hof van Civiele Justitie | Court of Civil Justice, In Suriname. Berbice also had its own separate civil court with the same name. |
| Hof van Politie en Crimineele Justitie | Court of Policy and Criminal Justice. Functioned simultaneously as the Governing Council of Suriname and as criminal court. Berbice had a similar governmental body. |
| Hoge Regering | The High Government of the Dutch East Indies, seated in Batavia, and consisting of the Governor General and his Council, also known as the Council of the Indies (Raad van Indië). |
| Hollandsche Consultatiën | Compilation of legal opinions by various Dutch jurists. Originally published in the mid-seventeenth century, with a new version published by Gerard de Haas in 1741. |
Litt. house-wife, used to designate a legally married (Christian or Jewish) woman. | |
| Impia | Person pawned off (usually by a relative) to secure a debt. Common in West-Africa. |
| Inlands, Inlandsche | ‘Native’, used primarily in VOC-settings. |
| Inlandsche Christenen | Christians of ‘native’ (usually South or Southeast Asian) descent. |
| Jacatra | Javanese name of Batavia (now Jakarta) prior to Dutch conquest. |
| Jahid | (compare Congregante) Full-fledged member of the Sephardic Jewish community in Suriname. Generally reserved for white settlers. |
| Jawi | Arabic script used for writing Malay. |
| Jentief | Gentile, term used by the Dutch for Hindus. |
| Jodensavanne | Jewish village along the Suriname river. |
| Jurator | Jewish notary in Suriname. |
| Kampung, kampong | Traditional Southeast Asian village, compound, or demarcated neighborhood. |
| Ketuba(h) | Jewish marriage contract. Also used metonymically to refer to the bridewealth specified in the contract. |
| Khul | Islamic divorce by mutual agreement. |
| Kong Koan | Chinese council, acting as governing and judicial body over Batavia’s Chinese population. |
| Krankbezoeker | Lay minister tasked with visiting the sick, also called ziekentrooster. |
| Landraad, pl. Landraden | Judicial forum with jurisdiction over non-Europeans in VOC-ruled Java and Ceylon. |
| Lascar | See: Lascorijn. |
| Lascorijn | Indigenous soldiers recruited by Europeans in South Asia. |
| Leermeester | Teacher, employed by the VOC to offer instructions in the Dutch Reformed faith. |
| Mahamad | Council of regents of the synagogue among Sephardi Jews. Individual regents were called parnassim. |
| Mahr | Dower or bride-price in Islam, paid by the groom to the bride or her family. |
| Mardijker | Free (Christian) inhabitants of VOC settlements with an enslaved background. |
| Marronage | Self-liberation from slavery through escape. In Suriname, several Maroon groups formed over time in the jungles surrounding the colony. |
| Maskawin | Dower or bride-price in Malay-Islamic traditions. |
| Meijd | Litt. girl, term used for the unmarried female partners of particularly lower-status men. |
| Mestice, Mestiezin | From Portuguese mestiço/Spanish mestizo. Man or woman of mixed European and Indigenous descent. |
| Mestiezen | See: Mestice. |
Also: mudaliyar, modliar. Tamil word for headman. | |
| Moor, Moorinne | Term used to designate Muslims in the Indian Ocean world, particularly those of South-Asian origin. |
| Mulat, Mulattin | From Spanish/Portuguese Mulato. Racial designation for individuals with mixed European and African ancestry. |
| Nationaal Archief | Dutch National Archives, housed in The Hague. |
| Naturellen | Natives. |
| Neeger | From Spanish/Portuguese Negro. Racial designation for individuals of African descent. |
| Negerin | Racial designation for black women. See: Neeger. |
| Notarissen | Notaries |
| Ommelanden | The rural areas directly surrounding Batavia. |
| Ondertrouw | The mandatory registration of the intention to marry. |
| Ondertrouwregisters | Register of intended nuptials, containing the names and details of the bride and groom. |
| Onecht | Illegitimate (i.e. out of wedlock). |
| Ordre van Regieringe | Ordre van Regieringe soo in Policie als Justitie in de Plaetsen Verovert ende te Veroveren in West-Indien (Order of Government in both Policy and Justice in the places conquered and to be conquered in the West Indies), issued in 1629. |
| Overwonnen kind(eren) | Children born from adultery or incest. |
| Pandeling | Person in debt-bondage. |
| Parnassim | Plural of parnas. Jewish regent. |
| Patroonschap | Patroonship. Form of colonization common in the seventeenth-century Dutch Atlantic, in which the WIC granted land rights to an investor to act as a manorial lord (patroon). |
| Peranakan | Southeast-Asian multiracial ethnic group descended from Chinese migrants who married local women. |
| Personae indignae | ‘Unworthy persons’; used to denote low social and/or legal status. |
| Plakaat, Plakaten | Litt. ‘placard’. Type of ordinance common in the Dutch Republic and its overseas empire. Ad-hoc legislation announced to the public in print form and through oral proclamation. |
| Plakaatboek | Compilation of ordinances (plakaten). |
| Poesties, Poestiezen | From Portuguese postiço. Racial designation used for individuals of mixed but predominantly European descent. |
| Political Ordinance | Ordonnantie van de Policien Binnen Hollandt; Key ordinance regulating marriage in the Dutch Republic, first issued for the province of Holland in 1580. |
Colonial employee stationed at an outpost near Amerindian settlements in the Dutch Guianas. | |
| Preanger | Also: Parahyangan or Priangan. Mountainous region in Western Java, southeast of Batavia (Jakarta). |
| Predikant | Minister in the Dutch-Reformed Church. |
| Priseur | Appraiser. |
| Procureur | Attorney acting as legal counsel and representative in civil cases. |
| Quetuboth | See: Ketuba(h). |
| Raad van Justitie | ‘Council of Justice’ in Batavia. Highest court in the Dutch East Indies, comprised of nine judges appointed by the seventeen directors of the VOC. The Council held jurisdiction over all civil and criminal cases involving the company’s employees and slaves and served as the final court of appeals. The president of the council had a seat in the colonial government, the Raad van Indië (see: Hoge Regering). Many smaller settlements had their own, subsidiary courts also called ‘Raad van Justitie’. |
| Remonstrants | Protestant movement that split off from the Dutch Reformed Church in the 1610s, following the doctrine of Jacobus Arminius. |
| Rijksarchief | Old name for the Dutch National Archives. |
| Ropia | Rupee. |
| Schaking | The illicit transport of an unmarried woman against her family’s wishes with the goal of sex and/or marriage (irrespective of the woman’s consent). Comparable to the English terms elopement and abduction. |
| Schepenbank | Court of Aldermen. Court in Batavia, modeled on Dutch urban courts, with jurisdiction over residents not tied to the VOC. Appeals could be made at the Raad van Justitie. |
| Schepenen | Urban magistrates in Batavia who comprised the Schepenbank. |
| Seduceeren | Litt. ‘to seduce’. Had a sexual connotation but could also be used to designate any enticing of another person to commit an illicit act, such as the running away of slaves. |
| Separatie | Separation. A type of (temporary) divorce that divided up the marital assets but did not dissolve the marriage. |
| Shāfiʿī school | One of the four major schools of (Sunni) Islamic jurisprudence, influential in the Indian Ocean world. |
| Slavin | An enslaved woman. |
| Sociëteit van Berbice | Corporate entity, founded in 1720 and modeled on the Society of Suriname. In charge of the colony of Berbice. The original private owners of the colony, the Van Peere family, held a share in the Sociëteit. |
| Sociëteit van Suriname | ‘Society of Suriname’. Chartered corporate entity in charge of the colony of Suriname. Co-owned by the city of Amsterdam, the Dutch West India Company (WIC) and the Van Aerssen van Sommelsdijck family. Established in 1683 after Suriname fell from British into Dutch hands. |
Children born to unmarried parents. | |
| Spinhuis | Women’s workhouse in Batavia, a disciplinary institution modeled on the ‘spinning house’ in Amsterdam. |
| Stadskind | Litt. ‘child of the city/state’. Person placed under public guardianship due to mental incapacity or financial mismanagement. |
| Statuten van Batavia | Compilation of ordinances issued in Batavia, serving as a de facto legal code for the Dutch East Indies. Published in 1642 and 1766. |
| Talaq, Tallak | Repudiation; unilateral divorce proceeding initiated by the husband in Islamic family law. |
| Tapoeyer(in) | Racial designation used in coastal West-Africa for mixed-race individuals. |
| Toepas, Toepassen | Ethnic designation used in South Asia for Portuguese-speaking Christians. |
| Tuchthuis, Tugt-huijs | See: Spinhuis. |
| Tugteling(en) | Inmates of the women’s workhouse. |
| Vaandrig | Ensign – a military officer. |
| Veniam Agenda | Permission granted by the court to take independent legal action. Requested by women seeking to oppose their husband in court. |
| Verkrachting | Rape. |
| VOC | Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie. The Dutch East India Company (1602–1798). |
| Volksplanting | Colony. |
| WIC | (Geoctroyeerde) West-Indische Compagnie. The Dutch West India Company (1621–1674, first iteration; 1675–1792, second iteration). |
| Wijf | Wife or woman. Non-honorific term (compared to huijsvrouw) used for the wives of non-Christians. |