French jurists have thought that their Civil Code expresses an individualism characteristic of the ideals of the French Revolution and the principles of liberalism. Property was regarded as a right of the owner that was unlimited in principle. Contract was defined in terms of the will of the parties to contract on whatever terms they chose. The drafters of the Code, however, were among the last adherents of an older natural law tradition in which the rights of an owner were limited by the purposes for which property rights were created, and the terms of a contract must be just. This article describes the drafter’s debt to that tradition and how it was ignored by jurists in the 19th century.

Jan Kanty Rzesiński – Cracovian Roman Law and Legal History Scholar of 19th Century

The article is the second part of the work devoted to the academic profile and views of Jan Kanty Rzesiński – a Cracovian lawyer who was vigorously engaged in research on Roman law, Polish legal history, and legal philosophy in the first half of the 19th century. Despite his academic interests, J.K. Rzesiński was not working at the Faculty of Law of the Jagiellonian University for most of the time. In the first part of the article, the author discussed J.K. Rzesiński’s curriculum vitae and his works on Roman law. The objective of this the second part of the article, is to examine those of remaining literary works that dealt with law (the translation of Processus iuris civilis Cracoviensis, articles on obstagium in lieu of securing creditors rights in the old Polish law, articles on language and jurisprudence, and articles on the relations between legal history and philosophy of law) as well as his views against the epoch and the Cracovian academic milieu.

Implementation of the Provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 17 March 1921 Concerning the Administration of Justice

The article – divided into four sections – is centered around the implementation of the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 17 March 1921 in the area of the administration of justice. The first section discusses the work on a draft constitution carried out between 1917 and 1921, with particular focus on the judiciary. The second analyses the content of the provisions of the Constitution referring to the administration of justice. The third deals with the judicature. In this section, the author discusses the organisation and work of, among others: the State Tribunal, the Supreme Administrative Tribunal, the Competence Tribunal, and courts of common pleas, paying particular attention to the unimplemented norms of the Constitution – mainly the failure to establish administrative courts of different instances with the participation of citizens, and the absence of citizens serving as justices of the peace or jurors. Two issues played important roles in the implementation of constitutional norms regarding the administration of justice. The first was the political situation in Poland after the 1926 May Coup. The second was the amendments to the Constitution introduced in connection with the entry into force of the 1926 “August Amendment”, that gave the President of the Republic of Poland the power to promulgate ordinances having the legal effect of legislative acts. This allowed the Polish government of that time to carry out, to a great extent, a standardisation of the courts of common pleas, which was accomplished by promulgation of the Ordinance of the President of the Republic of Poland of 6 February 1928 – the Act on the Organisation of Courts of Common Pleas. Additionally, between 1929 and 1932 the government embarked on an extensive program of dismissing existing judges and appointing new ones. Importantly, this was accompanied by a change in the line of jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Administrative Tribunal, according to which courts lost their authority to examine the constitutionality of ordinances promulgated by the President of the Republic of Poland. In the final section of the article – the summary – the author notes that the implementation of the norms of the Constitution concerning the administration of justice was, to a great extent, non-existent, given the political situation after the May Coup. It further points out that the same was also true in the period between 1944 and 1952, during which the basic principles of the Constitution of 17 March 1921 applied.

* Artykuł stanowi rozszerzoną wersję wystąpienia autora na konferencji pt. „Tradycje ustrojowe II Rzeczypospolitej. W stulecie Konstytucji marcowej”, która odbyła się w dniach 5–6 października 2021 r. Konferencję zorganizował Wydział Prawa i Administracji Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego w Krakowie.

Issues Concerning Legal Protection of Artistic Performances in Poland in the Years 1919–1994 (Part I)

The article presents the views of the legal doctrine and the discussions related to attempts to bring artistic performances under legal regulation, from 1918 to 1945. Between 1918 and 1945 an artistic performance draft law was created. However, the bill never became law due to a lack of support from the legal community. The actual protection of rights in regard to artistic performances was provided by the provisions of copyright law.

Be Careful with Marxism! Notes on the Margins of Tomasz Banach’s Work Catyline and Tabulae Novae. The Problem of Universal Indebtedness and Utilitas Rei Publicae in Cicero’s Speeches (Warszawa: C.H. Beck, 2022, pp. 87, ISBN 978-83-8291-242-5)

In Tomasz Banach’s interesting and useful monograph on the promises of debt relief (tabulae novae) with which Catiline tried to win the favour of Roman society, the reader can find statements in which the author expresses powerful opposition to some „Marxist” and „neoliberal” tendencies. Unfortunately, the author does not explain what he understands by the term “Marxism”, nor does he cite academic literature to define the characteristics of a „Marxist Catiline”. This is a mistake, because the views of Polish representatives of Marxist doctrine regarding the figure and achievements of Catiline, are analogous to those of Tomasz Banach.

The article is a review of the monograph entitled Bildung und Demokratie in der Weimarer Republik, published by Franz Steiner Verlag in 2022. This monograph is an effect of the academic conference “Bildung und Demokratie”, that took place in 2020 and was organized by the Weimar Republic Research Institution of the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and Weimarer Republik e. V. The editors of the reviewed monograph, namely Andreas Braune, Sebastian Elsbach, and Ronny Noak, are renowned scholars specializing in problematics of the Weimar Republic. This review article contains a short de- scription and evaluation of all sixteen chapters published together as a monograph. As a whole, they refer to a wide spectrum of subjects. However, their common ground is the question of the education of both youth and adults on the subjects of democracy and republicanism during the period of the Weimar Republic. All issues raised in the monograph are also analysed in the context of the very complex political reality of Weimar Germany. The article ends with general remarks on the problematics discussed in the monograph.

* Tekst przygotowany w ramach projektu „Uregulowania prawne relacji pomiędzy dziedzicami a chłopami na centralnych ziemiach polskich w okresie od zniesienia poddaństwa do uwłaszczenia”, finansowanego przez Narodowe Centrum Nauki (UMO-2018/31/B/HS5/00315).