Conceptual and Ideological Changes in the Czechoslovak Inheritance Law After 1948 in the Broader Context of Changes in Property and Family Law
Choose format
RIS BIB ENDNOTEPublication date: 03.12.2025
Cracow Studies of Constitutional and Legal History, Volume 18 (2025), Volume 18, Issue 3, pp. 589-610
https://doi.org/10.4467/20844131KS.25.036.22166Authors
Conceptual and Ideological Changes in the Czechoslovak Inheritance Law After 1948 in the Broader Context of Changes in Property and Family Law
This article focuses on the development of Czechoslovak inheritance law in the period after the end of the World War II, with an emphasis on the years from 1945 to 1951. Inheritance law underwent a significant transformation during this period, which was a direct reflection of the radical political, economic and social changes in the post-war period, which ultimately resulted in the rise of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1948. The inheritance law, which had been for the most part firmly established in the General Civil Law of 1811, was incorporated into the newly adopted so-called Middle Civil Code (No. 141/1950 Coll.). The model for this regulation was the Soviet inheritance law. The newly designed inheritance law thus already clearly reflected all the influences of the socialization of private law, often characterized by a significant departure from the traditional mechanisms and institutes of the regulation of the succession of inheritance known from the previous regulation. Inheritance law was newly linked to the concept of various categories of property – socialist property, personal property and private property. The stated aim was to make the objects of succession primarily objects of personal use and the fruits of one’s own labour. As a whole, inheritance law was intended to be a set of rules aimed in particular at simplifying the transfer of property in the event of death within the immediate family, and should primarily serve the living, not the dead. This corresponded to a substantial restriction on the autonomy of the testator’s will, which became even more pronounced in the following period.
The main objective of the article is to focus on the most significant manifestations of the outlined conceptual changes and their real impact on the succession alongside the process of the unification of inheritance law in Czechoslovakia, which took place in the mentioned period.
Imperial Patent No. 946/1811 Coll., General Civil Code.
Imperial Decree No. 276/1914 Coll., Issuing a partial amendment to the General Civil Code.
Constitutional Decree of th e President of the Republic No. 2/1940 Official Gazette of the Czechoslovak Republic, on the Provisional Exercise of Legislative Power (re-published under No. 20/1945 Coll.).
Decree of the President of the Republic No. 5/1945 Coll. on the Nullity of Certain Property-Legal Acts of the Period of Non-Freedom and on the National Administration of the Property Values of Germans, Hungarians, Traitors and Collaborators and Certain Organisations and Institutions.
Decree No. 12/1945 of the President of the Republic, on the Confiscation and Expeditious Distribution of the Agricultural Property of Germans, Hungarians and Traitors and Enemies of the Czech and Slovak Nation.
Decree No. 28/1945 of the President of the Republic, on the Settlement of Agricultural Land of Germans, Hungarians and Other Enemies of the State by Czech, Slovak and Other Slavic Farmers.
Decree No. 100/1945 Coll. of the President of the Republic, on the Nationalisation of Mines and Certain Industrial Enterprises.
Decree No. 108/1945 of the President of the Republic, on the Confiscation of Enemy Property and National Reconstruction Funds.
Act No. 76/1946 Coll., on the Annulment and Modification of Court Decisions in Civil Legal Matters from the Period of Non-Freedom.
Act No. 128/1946 Coll., on the Invalidity of Certain Property-Legal Acts from the Period of Non-Freedom and on Claims Arising from Such Invalidity and Other Interference with Property.
Act No. 142/1947 Coll. on the Revision of the First Land Reform.
Act No. 46/1948 Coll. on the New Land Reform (“Permanent Regulation of Ownership of Agricultural and Forest Land”).
Constitutional Act No. 150/1948 Coll., the Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic.
Act No. 141/1950 Coll., Civil Code.
Act No. 40/1964 Coll., Civil Code.
Act No. 89/2012 Coll., Civil Code.
Supreme Court Decision No. Cz 87/52 (Rc 99/1952) of 28. 3. 1952.
Supreme Court Decision No. Cz 153/54 (Rc 107/1954), of 28. 5. 1954.
Supreme Court Decision No. Cz 128/54 (Rc 139/1954), of 6. 9. 1954.
Bednář, Václav. “Dědická smlouva a některé problémy při jejím uzavírání, zejména pak problematika výkladu §1585 odst. 1 o. z.” [Contract of succession and some problems during its conclusion, especially the issue of §1585(1) of Civil Code interpretation]. Bulletin advokacie 11 (2017): 17−20.
Blažke, Jaromír. “Odkaz v novém dědickém právu” [Bequeath within the new inheritance law]. Právník 4 (1951): 232–41.
Bratus, Sergej Nikitič [et al.]. Sovětské občanské právo. Díl 2 [Soviet civil law. Part 2]. Transl. Pavel Paul. Praha: Orbis, 1953.
Čepička, Alexej. “Budování nového čs. právního řádu” [Building of the new Czechoslovak legal order]. In: Za socialistické právo! Manifestační sjezd československých právníků ve dne 21.–25. září 1949 [For socialist law! Manifestation congress of Czechoslovak lawyers from 21.–25. September 1949], eds. Štefan Rais [et al.], 82–6. Praha: Ministerstvo spravedlnosti a ministerstvo informací a osvěty, 1949.
Eliáš, Karel [et al.]. Nový občanský zákoník s aktualizovanou důvodovou zprávou [New civil code with updated explanatory note]. Ostrava: Sagit, 2012.
Gábriš Tomáš. Dočasné súdne pravidlá Judexkuriálnej konferencie z roku 1861 [Temporary court rules of the Judex-curial konference of 1861]. Bratislava: Wolters Kluwer, 2014.
Hanes, Dalibor; Plank, Karol. Občianske právo II. diel (Záväzkové právo, dedičské právo a dodatky) [Civil law, part II (Law of obligations, Inheritance law, and amendments)]. Bratislava: Slovenské pedagogické nakladatelství v Bratislave, 1955.
Holub, Rudolf [et al.]. Komentář k občanskému zákoníku − Dědické právo [Civil code commentary – Inheritance law]. Praha: Orbis, 1957.
Kizlinková, Věra; Petrželka, Karel. “O kodifikaci občanského práva” [On the civil law codification]. In: Tři studie o občanském právu [Three studies on civil law], ed. Sergej Nikitič Bratus’, 55–104. Praha: Orbis, 1950.
Knapp, Viktor. “Právo veřejné a soukromé“ [Public and private law]. Právník 2 (1950): 82–100.
Knapp, Viktor. Hlavní zásady československého socialistického občanského práva [Main principles of Czechoslovak socialist civil law]. Praha: Stání nakladatelství politické literatury, 1958.
Knapp, Viktor. Předmět a systém československého socialistického práva občanského [The object and system of Czechoslovak socialist civil law]. Praha: Československá akademie věd, 1959.
Knapp, Viktor. Vlastnictví v lidové demokracii [Ownership in the people’s democracy]. Praha: Orbis, 1952.
Knapp, Viktor; Petrželka, Karel; Škundin, Zinovij Isaakovič. K otázkám nového občanského práva [On the questions raised by the new civil law]. Praha: Orbis, 1950.
Knapp, Viktor [et al.]. Učebnice občanského a rodinného práva. Svazek 3. (Dědické právo − rodinné právo) [Textbook of civil and family law. Part 3 (Inheritance law – Family law)]. Praha: Orbis, 1954.
Kober, Jan, ed. Osnova československého občanského zákoníku [The draft of the Czechoslovak civil code]. Praha: Ústav státu a práva AV ČR, 2021.
Kratochvíl, Zdeněk [et al.]. Nové občanské právo [New civil law]. Praha: Orbis, 1965.
Krčmář, Jan. Právo občanské V. Právo dědické [Civil law V. Inheritance law]. 3rd Rev. ed. Praha: Všehrd, 1937.
Luby, Štefan. Dejiny súkromného práva na Slovensku [History of private law in Slovakia]. Bratislava: nákladom knižnice Právnickej jednoty, 1946.
Petrželka, K. “Nové občanské právo dědické.” In: K otázkám nového občanského práva [On the questions raised by the new civil law], eds. Viktor Knapp, Karel Petrželka, Zinovij Isaakovič Škundin, 47–75. Praha: Orbis, 1950.
Průša, Oldřich. Stalinská ústava vítězného socialismu [The Stalin constitution of victorious socialism]. Praha: Orbis, 1950.
Rais, Štefan [et al.], eds. Za socialistické právo! Manifestační sjezd československých právníků ve dne 21.–25. září 1949 [For socialist law! Manifestation congress of Czechoslovak lawyers from 21.–25. September 1949]. Praha: Ministerstvo spravedlnosti a ministerstvo informací a osvěty, 1949.
Rais, Štefan; Parma, Miloš; Čapek, Karel. Občanský zákoník [Civil Code]. Praha: Orbis, 1951.
Rouček, František; Sedláček, Jaromír [et al.]. Komentář k československému obecnému zákoníku občanskému. Svazek 1 [Czechoslovak general civil code commentary. Part 1]. Praha: V. Linhart, 1936.
Šmeral, Bohuslav. Nejdemokratičtější ústava světa. Návrh nové sovětské ústavy [The most democratic constitution in the world: New Soviet constitution draft]. Praha: Svaz přátel SSSR, 1936.
Vojáček, Ladislav. “SNR jako tvůrce práva v letech 1944–1948” [Slovak National Council ad a legislator in the years 1944–1948]. In: Dny práva – 2009 – Days of Law: The Conference Proceedings, eds. David Sehnálek [et al.], 2797−808. Brno: Masaryk University, 2009. ISBN 978-80-210-4990-1.
Information: Cracow Studies of Constitutional and Legal History, Volume 18 (2025), Volume 18, Issue 3, pp. 589-610
Article type: Original scientific article
Published at: 03.12.2025
Article status: Open
Licence: CC BY 4.0
Article financing:
Percentage share of authors:
Article corrections:
-Publication languages:
EnglishView count: 687
Number of downloads: 742
