In church law, the union of churches (unio ecclesiarum) concerned the merger of two and more dioceses under the same bishop. In the Middle Ages, canonists were already pointing to three types of union: 1) aeque principalis; 2) unio per subiectionem, when one of the churches was subject to the other and thus the episcopal dignity remained only in that one, and finally, the third kind, called 3) unio per extinctionem, when two particular churches, usually dioceses, were merged into a single new one. The canonical achievements in the field of union of churches and benefices were collected and summarized, among others, in the treatise De unionibus ecclesiarum atque beneficiorum by Nicolaus Thilen, and in the work of Anaclet Reiffenstuel entitled Ius canonicum universum. The three types of union of churches and benefices presented above, distinguished by their mergers, were adopted into the Code of Canon Law of 1917 (canons 1419 and 1420). The 450th anniversary of the union concluded on July 1, 1569 in Lublin was celebrated in 2019. As a result of this union the Kingdom of Poland, called the Crown, merged with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The canonical models of the union of churches and benefices, developed in medieval canon law, are important for a closer description of the essence of this relationship, starting with the first of them, i.e. the union concluded in 1385 in Krevo. The political relationships established between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania largely corresponded to the three canonical models of the church union indicated above, i.e. unio aeque principalis (1385), unio per subiectionem (1413) and unio per extinctionem seu translationem (1569).

Parish records are an interesting source material for researching the issue of beliefs in returning dead. Parish records of deaths rarely relate the funerals of people other than the God-fearing citizens who rested in the parish necropolis or those killed in tragic circumstances, usually as a result of an accident. From the end of the 16th century, the areas of the Silesian-Moravian borderland, or northern Moravia itself, were the scene of fierce struggles against the dead rising from their graves. Later, mainly eighteenth-century publications began to use the term defining these phenomena as magia posthuma. The intensity of beliefs in posthumous magic peaked in late 17th and early 18th centuries. It was widely thought at the time that a deceased person whose body does not show normal, post-mortem changes (rigidity) was a witch or a sorcerer. In Silesia and Moravia effective forms of dealing with harmful deceased people were developed in the period of 16th-18th centuries. Based on the analysis of existing source material, we know that the most frequent course of action was to find the grave of the “undead”in the cemetery, exhume the corpse and destroy it. All these measures against corpses who rose from their graves had to leave a trace in the parish books. In the discussed area, the oldest entries from records of death concerning the beliefs in dead who returned to plague the living can be found in the volume for the Silesian city of Strzegom (German: Striegau) covering the years 1589–1715. Some interesting research material is also provided by entries made in the records of death in the small town of Ryžoviště(German: Braunseifen) for the years 1583–1640 and 1640–1717. One of the last entries in the death records was made on 1 March 1755, when the Empress Maria Theresa issued a decree forbidding the persecution of people accused of witchcraft, treasure hunts with the aid of magic and also the exhumation or burning of the bodies of people accused of posthumous magic.

The current Austrian Civil Code goes back to 1811, after more than 200 years it still is in force in Austria –though with many amendments. Its origin and development is connected to the political history of the Austrian Empire, later the Dual Monarchy and its successor states in the 20th century. The paper analyses the significance of the Austrian Civil Code on the development of civil law in Central Europe on the verge of the collapse of the old empires and the emergence of the new political systems. Especially the question of the influence of the Austrian Civil Code on Polish law and inversely the influence of Polish lawyers on the development of the Austrian Civil Code is addressed. Due to the character of the inclusion of the Polish parts into the Austrian Empire in the 18th century the paper raises the question of the role of civil law in forced unions.

The article describes the consultative activities of the Professors and Doctors of the Faculty of Law of the Jagiellonian University in the years 1817–1833. On the basis of Article 15 of the 1815 Constitution of the Free City of Krakow, they examined whether it was admissible for the parties to the court proceedings to lodge a third instance appeals against the consistent decisions issued by both of the first instance court and the court of appeal. This was deemed to be possible if the judgements were found in violation of substantive civil law or important forms of court proceedings. I briefly describe the form of proceedings by the Faculty of Law, including the appointment of case clerks, the convening of meetings, and the procedure for passing resolutions. Based on extensive archival materials, stored in the Jagiellonian University Archives and the National Archive in Krakow, I reconstruct three such proceedings. They concerned provisions on the form of legal acts for evidence purposes (Article 1341 KN) and contracts with a private signature (Article 1325 KN), as well as a provision on matrimonial property relationships (Article 1443 KN). In the first case, the opinion of the Faculty of Law determined a correct line of jurisprudence, while in the second, its interpretation of the provision narrowed the code dimension of contract freedom and constrained the principle of pacta sunt servanda. The last opinion is an example of an incorrect interpretation of the Napoleonic Code.

The following text examines the topic of unifying territories with disparate legal traditions as exemplified by Czechoslovakia during the first years of its existence and interpreted by Vratislav Kalousek (1883–1936), an unjustly forgotten clerk at the Ministry of the Interior, a lawyer and a contributor to inter-war legal magazines. He analyzed how the Czechoslovak law –drafted by the Czechoslovak officials of the Cisleithanian tradition –was implemented in the newly acquired lands, namely in Slovakia and in Carpathian Ruthenia. Vratislav Kalousek perceived the foundation of Czechoslovakia, based on uniting lands with a different history, as well as cultural, social and legal traditions, as a situation in which it was necessary to act swiftly, instead of slowing the process down with emphasis on accuracy typical for legal theory.

This article pertains to the use of relevant sources of law for the purpose of historical interpretation. The article is divided into three sections. The first section is dedicated to theoretical issues and presents the concept of sources of law and the types of legal interpretation, in particular historical interpretation. The next section describes examples of how sources of law may be applied in conjunction with historical interpretation. It discusses, inter alia, the application of historical interpretation in court rulings, the functioning of joint land property, agricultural reform in Poland after the Second World War, the consequences of the inflation policy and the associated occurrence of what is referred to as mortgage discharge, i.e. the repayment of the amounts due by the mortgagors. In the last section of the publication, the author summarises his reflections focusing primarily on the meaning of sources of law in the context of applying historical interpretation in contemporary court rulings. The author’s final conclusion is that using the sources of old law and the interpretation thereof are an important component of the legal system currently in effect.

As part of the source publication series begun in the second fascicle of the twelfth volume of Krakowskie Studia z Historii Państwa i Prawa [Krakow Studies in History of State and Law], we are publishing this time documents related to the preparation of the Civil Reform Committee, which operated in 1814–1815, to develop a new national civil code to replace the Napoleonic Code: 1. Wstęp przy wprowadzeniu planu do kodeksu cywilnego [Introduction to the Plan of Implementation of the Civil Code], 2. Plan Bieńkowskiego do nowego kodeksu cywilnego [Bieńkowski’s Plan for the New Civil Code], 3. Projekt Linowskiego do uformowania komisji mającej wygotowaćKsięgęprawa cywilnego i procedury [Linowski’s Plan for Forming a Commission to Prepare a Book of Civil Law and Procedure] and fragments of minutes of the Civil Reform Committee sessions regarding this draft. Source material on matrimonial law published in two last issues of the „Krakow Studies”in 2019 differed from the documents published in this fascicle because they were intended to serve only a partial reform of the Napoleonic Code envisaged for a temporary period, until a new civil code was developed. Antoni Bieńkowski presented his Plan for Implementation of the Civil Code at the session held on 20th November, 1814, less than a month after presenting the drafts of matrimonial law to the Civil Reform Committee (23rd October). The introductory part of the Plan presents the general assumptions regarding the works. They are followed by a list of the planned chapters and a justification of the adopted order. The actual Plan itself (second document) lists the same titles of chapters, along with the issues that should be regulated in a given place, and then it indicates where the models to follow could be sought. The debate related to the presentation of Bieńkowski’s Plan and the scope of activities in this field entrusted to the Committee by Emperor Alexander, took place at sessions held from 17th to 24th November. It ended with the preparation of Aleksander Linowski’s Plan for Forming a Commission to Prepare a Book of Civil Law and Procedure on 27th November. This document planned three stages of codification works: first, a 9-member commission was to draft both codes, and then departmental deputies were to work on them (first personally, and then representatives of them, with some Committee members). The last stage of preparatory works was to be comprised of meetings of five senators and members of the Council of State with selected Committee members and a representatives of departmental deputies.

The XXV Annual Forum of Young Legal Historians was organized by three Belgian universities: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Universitélibre de Bruxelles, and UniversitéSaint-Louis Bruxelles. It took place from 5th through 8th June, 2019. This years’forum concerned identity and citizenship, what was echoed in vast majority of the conference papers. The conference consisted of nearly 90 scholars representing more than 20 states, including non-European countries. As usual, the host country’s delegation presented the largest group of young legal historians. 6 speakers were representing the University of Warsaw, 3 Jagiellonian University, and 2 the University of Gdansk. The universities of Bialystok and Lodz, had one representative each during the Forum.

The work presents the achievements of Professor Grodziski. Research directions, major publications, didactic and organizational activities at the Faculty of Law and Administration, and membership in scientific organizations and associations are presented. The professor reactivated Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was an outstanding expert on the Old Polish Sejm and the history of Galicia and Austria. In short, he was an excellent teacher.