Iura Masoviae Terrestria: Concerning the Work Itself, and Some Perspectives on Its Continuation

The present paper focuses on Iura Masoviae Terrestria – an unfinished collection of sources for Masovian law. Work on the volume started back in the latter half of the 20th century. Back in 1956, Professor Jakub Sawicki obtained financial support from the Polish Academy of Sciences [PAN] to produce the publication. These funds allowed him to assemble a project team and begin research in the archives. The main goal of the project was to publish all general individual public acts of Masovian law from a period beginning in the 13th century through 1577, i.e. up to the introduction of Polish law in the former Duchy of Masovia. Despite an advanced level of preparation, financial support for the project was withheld in 1958, and progress on its preparation was stopped for a decade. Work was resumed in 1969 with plans for publishing the sources of Masovian law in five volumes, the last with indexes and translation into Polish of the most important Latin acts of the Masovian law. Finally, the first three volumes were published in 1972–1974. Due to health problems and ultimately the passing of Prof. Sawicki, the fourth volume, containing the acts from the 1541–1577 period was never published. Materials for its completion are preserved in Prof. Sawicki’s papers in PAN archives. They are to a great extent ready for publishing, although some additional research seems inevitable. The current paper presents perspectives for completing the fourth volume, as well as for possible continuation of the completion of Iura Masoviae Terrestria.

The Lithuanian Convocation of 1615. Research on the Procedure for Adopting Convocation Resolutions

The article presents the circumstances of the convening of the Lithuanian convocation of 1615, along with the course of the event and the resolutions it considered, with special consideration of the procedure for enacting law in this form of parliamentary assembly. Before the convocation could be convened, deputies had to be elected at pre-convocation sejmiks. Then, the deputies and the senators had to assemble at the time and place specified in the royal legacja. The sessions of the 1615 convocation lasted from May 21^st to June 5^th and took place in two chambers. There were at least 6 senators and more than 50 deputies. The resolutions passed during the convocation can be divided into 31 issues. They were recorded, and messengers were appointed at the convocation to carry their contents to the king. It was only after the monarch expressed his consent that the tax resolutions and legal standards became the applicable law. Sigismund III rejected three resolutions, modified two, and approved eighteen. The article presents in detail the output of the convocation, both in terms of passing tax laws and enacting other entirely new laws. 

* Artykuł powstał w ramach projektu badawczego Narodowego Centrum Nauki SONATA, nr 2016/23/D/HS3/03210 pt. „Rewolucja militarna jako czynnik modernizacyjny skarbowości i organizacji państwa polsko-litewskiego na tle europejskim”.

The aim of this article is to present the status of the Free City of Kraków in the policies of its neighbouring states, i.e. Austria, Prussia, and Russia, in regards to regional security (in areas of Central and Eastern Europe under the legal or real sovereignty of these powers). The main objective of the regional policy conducted by these powers was to protect the status quo and maintain the ancien régime in their respective states, along with upholding security and public order in the region. The article draws attention to the main ideas underlying the cooperation of these counties in this respect, and identifies the conventions and secret agreements that had direct impact on the creation, functioning, and dismantling of the Republic of Kraków. It further discusses the roles of the representatives of the protecting powers in Kraków, and their influence on the activity and reorganization of the city’s administration, police, militia, and judiciary. It offers examples that illustrate the consequences that the inhabitants of the Free City of Kraków suffered due to the legal and factual dependence of the state on the policies of the partitioning powers. 

How to Make the Impossible Possible? Reflections on the Unification [see below] of Inheritance Law in 19^th Century Switzerland

This article is devoted to the issues around unification of inheritance law in Switzerland in the 19^th century. Its objective is to demonstrate the problems confronting the Swiss legislature, the strategy adopted, and methods implemented for taking action in the face of having to reconcile diverse traditions, customs, and expectations under a single act. Eugen Huber, the main architect of the codification, strove to achieve a compromise that would allow the creation of a unified legal system based on the erstwhile legislative thought and technique, without having to forsake everything previously tried and trusted by this very diverse nation, grouped in small communities. He did so by pursuing the idea of universalization of testamentary succession, which had been marginalized in Swiss tradition since medieval times. The cantonal and common inheritance law which obtained till the time of codification was a mosaic of various laws, both with reference to the methods and the purposes of regulations. In this situation unification of the law through broadly understood self-regulating mechanisms of the market was probably the best choice. Implementing the institution of testamentary inheritance into the general legal system resulted in a situation whereby the society could, on the basis of common rules of conduct, independently determine its material situation in the event of a death, while remaining faithful to prevailing traditions and values. Unification through the introduction of common methods of conduct, and not through imposition of common principles and values, allowed the Swiss to harmonize apparently contradictory ideals of social cohesion and individualism, as well as to harmonize state interventionism with the right to self-determination.

* Artykuł powstał w ramach realizacji projektu „Szwajcarski kodeks cywilny z 10 grudnia 1907 roku – cele i metody” nr 2017/26/D/HS5/00625, finansowanego przez Narodowe Centrum Nauki.

The paper examines the process of the unification of substantive and procedural criminal law in the Yugoslav state during the interwar period. Despite its unitary and centralistic administrative organization, the Yugoslav state at the time was characterized by legal particularism. Among the territories that encompassed the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes there were substantially different legal systems, and hence, considerably diverse sources of law, since they had been parts of different political and territorial units prior to the unification. After the unification, there were six criminal codes and equally as many codes of criminal procedure in force in the territory of the Kingdom. Reformation and unification of substantive and procedural criminal law became an inevitable task, which was regarded as being urgent because achieving the standardization of the legal system was considered as a step forward, which would facilitate and solidify the unity and the proclaimed centralism that the state sought. Despite the initial efforts towards unification of criminal law that were begun by the beginning of 1919, the process was nevertheless turbulent, slow-going, and inefficient. Such circumstances were deeply conditioned by the permanent political instability, which emerged from continuous changes in the person of the Minister of Justice that always occurred in very short periods. The unification of criminal law was finally achieved only after the proclamation of the Dictatorship in 1929.

Crimes Constituting Relics of Local Customs in Soviet Codes

The object of the study presented in Prof. Katarzyna Laskowska’s paper is crimes that constitute relics of local customs, which are regulated in three Soviet codes. Interest in those crimes was due to the fact that acts associated with clan lifestyles of some nations of the USSR were considered to be offenses. Consequently, the research problem was formulated by the following question: “How did the state fight against traditions and customs of some of the nations inhabiting the Soviet Union?” The research hypothesis, in turn, was formulated by the following assumption: “The state fought against traditions and customs of some of the nations inhabiting the Soviet Union by criminalizing them in penal codes.” The source materials used were mostly the penal codes of the RSFSR of 1922, 1926, and 1960, as well as the legal and criminological literature from those periods. Their analysis enabled the researcher to reach the conclusion that Soviet authorities fought against crimes that constituted relics of local customs by use of criminal law in an instrumental manner in order to implement the ideology of the new political system and the authorities. 

Matrimonial Law in Works of the Civil Reform Committee (1814–1815). Historical Source Edition

We present three source texts. The first are the writings of father Dhiel, General Superintendent of the Reformed Evangelical Congregations, which dealt with matrimonial laws and divorces. Next is the draft act by A. Bieńkowski concerning property contracts between spouses, and the last are fragments of Civil Reform Committee session minutes regarding these writings. The author of the first text covered three issues of fundamental significance to the Protestants, those being: obstacles to contracting marriage, premises for divorce, and the problems of jurisdiction in divorce cases. The author of the published draft act, in turn, postulated the reinstatement of the separation of assets, which had functioned previously under ius terrestre as the statutory property regime in marriage. This solution was in direct opposition to the one introduced in the Napoleonic Code. The draft act was much shorter than the chapter of the Napoleonic Code that it was to replace: 34 articles as compared to 195. In many aspects it could be deemed fragmentary, written from the perspective of the landed gentry, and omitting many problems that concerned other social strata.

*Niniejsza publikacja została przygotowana w ramach projektu „Kodyfikacja narodowa – fantazmat czy realna alternatywa? W kręgu debat nad rodzimym systemem prawa sądowego w konstytucyjnym Królestwie Polskim” finansowanego ze środków Narodowego Centrum Nauki na podstawie umowy nr UMO-2015/18/E/HS5/00762.

A Review of Józef Koredczuk’s Book, Entitled The Inheritance of Real Estate in Light of the Case-law of the Lviv Appellate Circuit Courts in the Second Polish Republic, The E-Wydawnictwo. Prawnicza i Ekonomiczna Biblioteka Cyfrowa. Wydział Prawa, Administracji i Ekonomii Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, Wrocław 2019, 289 p.; ISBN 978-83-66066-57-1 (druk) i ISBN 978-83-66066-58-8 (online)

The reviewed book by Dr. Jozef Koredczuk entitled The inheritance of real estate in light of the caselaw of the Lviv Appellate Circuit courts in the Second Polish Republic is a monograph. It is a pioneer elaboration in the history of Polish law. The theme of the book focuses on cases regulated primarily by the Austrian Civil Code (ABGB) of 1811. This Code was binding in the Polish territory of the so-called Galicia (today, the Malopolska region) for almost 135 years, from 1812 until the end of 1946. The author narrows his research down to the jurisdiction of the Lvi’v appellate courts between 1918 and 1939. The author does not go directly to court records, but to previously published judicial decisions and their justifications. The researcher’s subject of interest is the inheritance of real estate, and thus leaving inheritance of chattels and rights behind.

The Review of Michał Klimecki’s book Sovietisation of Poland in 1920. The Polish Provisional Revolutionary Committee, as well as its Institutions, in the Summer and Autumn, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, Toruń 2016, 339 p.

The events of the year 1920 were a unique breakthrough in Polish history, yet now are largely forgotten. The war between the Republic of Poland and the Russian Bolsheviks was, after all, a threat to all of Europe. In Białystok the rulers of red Russia organized their own administration known as the Polish Provisional Revolutionary Committee to govern conquered parts of Polish territory. This body was ultimately going to have transformed itself into the government of a Polish Soviet Republic. This process, as well as the building of the Polish Red Army, is described in the reviewed book. Dr. Klimecki’s work also recounts the social background of Polish collaborators of Polish and Jewish origin from soldiers of the Red Army to Polish members of the Communist Party. Fortunately, Polish forces stopped the Bolsheviks at the battle of Warsaw, after which Poland enjoyed twenty years of independence. The reviewed book is an exceptional example of diligent academic work which also describes a now halfforgotten event in the war of 1920.

Review: S. Salmonowicz, Polnische Preussen oder Westpreussen. Ausgewählte Studien, Instytut Kaszubski: Gdańsk 2018, 159 p.

In 2018, Prof. Stanisław Salmonowicz, published his latest book entitled Polish Prussia or West Prussia. Selected Studies (Kashubian Institute in Gdańsk). It consists of the author’s biography and eight texts published in the last 30 years. The key binding individual works together is the subject of  Prussia, in which Prof. Salmonowicz specializes and is an undisputed academic authority. They raise the issue of relations between Royal Prussia and the Crown, the role of Königsberg in the era of Enlightenment, the functioning of the Academic Schools in Prussia and their importance for the identity of its inhabitants, the language in everyday life of early modern Toruń, the culture of Pomerania, and the image of Poland as seen through the eyes of Georg Forster. Assembling these broad elements into a single publication provides a major asset for researchers dealing with Prussian issues in general, and more broadly, with modern history.

Legal-historical Remarks Concerning the Book: Mobilia. Inwentarze mienia ruchomego mieszczan krakowskich do schyłku XV wieku. [Mobilia. Inventories of the Chattels of Cracow Burghers up to the End of the 15th Century], ed. Marcin Starzyński, Towarzystwo Miłośników Historii i Zabytków Krakowa, Kraków 2017, XXXII + 155 p. (Fontes Cracovienses, 13)

The reviewed book includes 182 medieval inventories of the chattels of Cracow burghers. It is doubtless a very valuable source for research in the area of the history of personal belongings. The objective of the short report is to show the value of such a source for legal-historical research. The book takes into consideration phenomena in the areas of inheritance and marriage law. But the main part of the review is the analysis of information found in the works of lawyers, which is especially worthwhile for research on the legal culture of medieval Polish towns.

The Creator of the Militarised Administration of the General Headquarters of the Union of Armed Struggle-Home Army. Stanisław Salmonowicz’s book Ludwik Muzyczka „Benedykt” (1900–1977). Materiały historyczne do dziejów Komendy Głównej Armii Krajowej [Ludwik Muzyczka “Benedykt” (1900–1977). The Historical Materials Concerning the General Headquarters of the Home Army], Institute of National Remembrance. Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation, Warsaw 1918, 320 p.

Subsequent to his 1992 publication, Professor Stanisław Salmonowicz’s new book is his most recent foray into the presentation of the life of Ludwik Muzyczka. The book acquaints the reader with Muzyczka’s life events, showing the wide range of his activities, from his participation in the Polish Legions during the struggle for Poland’s independence, to his later service in the Polish Armed Forces, fighting to shape the borders of the revived Polish state, to his commitment to social and political issues in the Second Polish Republic, as well as his involvement in various conspiracies during the Second World War and in the Polish People’s Republic, to the final stage of restoring the remembrance of the heroes of the Polish Home Army. The most significant period of Muzyczka’s activity was during the Second World War. The experience he gained working in public administration offices of interwar Poland, including his tenure as starosta – the chief administrative officer of the powiat administrative unit, proved useful in the creation of the administrative structures of the Polish Secret State. Beyond doubt, his greatest achievement in that field was the large-scale enterprise of the organisation and management of Szefostwo Biur Wojskowych Komendy Głównej ZWZ-AK [The Command of Military Offices of the General Headquarters of the Union of Armed Struggle-Home Army]. The publication comprises two parts and an annex. Muzyczka’s biography, divided into five chapters, constitutes the first part. The second part contains several studies concerning selected issues related to Muzyczka’s activities. The annex consists of three papers by Stanisław Salmonowicz, i.a. including a list of Muzyczka’s most important texts, and of four source texts. Stanisław Salmonowicz’s book should be considered obligatory reading for those historians who deal with the history of the Polish Underground State and the conspiracy activities after 1945, as well as for historians of administration. 

A review of Jacek Przygodzki’s Monograph Commissions for Improving Public Administration in the Second Republic of Poland. A Historical and Legal Study, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, Wrocław 2019, 393 p.

This text is a review of Dr. Jacek Przygodzki’s book, ‘Commissions for Improving Public Administration in the Second Republic of Poland. A Historical and Legal Study’, which was published by the Publishing House of the University of Wrocław in 2019. This work summarises the author’s previous scholarly research in the field of the organization of public administration in interwar Poland. Dr. Przygodzki elaborates the complete history of all five of the commissions for the modernisation of administration, from the time of Poland’s regaining its independence to the completion of the work of the Jaroszyński Committee in 1933. The review discusses the structure of the monograph and research methods used by the author, and draws attention to a rich base of sources and extensive literature on the subject. In the conclusion, it is stated that Dr. Przygodzki’s book is a scholastically reliable work that gives the reader many interesting bits of information about the organization of public administration in the Second Republic of Poland.

The Celebrations of the Jubilee of the Polish Bicameral Parliament in Piotrków Trybunalski (5^th–6^th October 2018). The Academic Conference “From Piotrków to Warsaw. The 550^th Anniversary of the Parliamentarism of the Republic of Poland”

The commemorative ceremony for the 550^th anniversary of the establishment of the Polish bicameral parliament in Piotrków Trybunalski was organised by the Marshal of the Sejm, Marek Kuchciński, and the Deputy Marshal of the Senate Maria Koc. As demonstrated by Prof. Wacław Uruszczak, it was in Piotrków, from the 9^th to the 31^st of October 1468, that the first Polish bicameral Sejm gathered, with the participation of territorial envoys elected by local legislatures (sejmiki). The jubilee celebrations began with a Holy Mass, which was followed by the unveiling of the plaque in the Castle Square commemorating the event of 550 years prior, and the opening of a special exhibition at the Royal Castle in Piotrków. One of the important elements of the celebrations was the academic conference entitled “From Piotrków to Warsaw. The 550th Anniversary of the Parliamentarism of the Republic of Poland”. During the symposium, speeches were given by scholars from several research centres who deal with the history of Polish parliamentary system. The celebrations in Piotrków were part of a series of national events related to the anniversary. Among these, it is worth mentioning the session of the National Assembly (July 13, 2018) and the academic conference entitled “The Sejm of the First Polish Republic – the Parliament of Many Nations and the European State Representations” (April 27, 2018), which both took place at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.