Abstract
The study deals with the issue of the legal capacity of towns and their burghers to acquire tables estates in the Bohemian kingdom in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. This legal capacity was, in principle, tied to royal permission on a case-by-case basis.
Already in the Middle Ages, however, some towns received a privilege that exempted them from the obligation to apply for royal approval across the board. The main focus of the study is on the period of the 16th century, when the towns of Prague were temporarily deprived of this privilege, but on the contrary, they received the same right during the reign of Rudolf II as well as two other cities - Pilsen and Žatec.
The aim is not only to interpret the content of the mentioned privileges, but also to place them in a wider legal framework and, last but not least, to warn about the unsuccessful initiative of Lesser Town to obtain the same privilege from the monarch.