Józef Andrzej Załuski, bishop of Kiev and the alleged author of Opisanie krótkie niektórych interessów wewnętrznych Najjaśniejszej Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej w roku 1762 (Brief description of some internal interests of the Eminent Polish Nobiliary Republic in 1762), tried to survey a series of opinions and reflections on the constitutional system of Poland at the decline of the reign of August III of Vettin dynasty and the beginning of reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski. The major element of Załuski’s analysis is his attitude toward liberum veto which was one of the most crucial elements of the Polish constitutional system. While perceiving the negative aspect of the abuse arising from the liberum veto, Załuski considered the latter to be the immanent part of the Polish constitution. He therefore regarded the liberum veto as something unavoidable and as something what produced a counterbalance vis-à-vis the voting by majority, the latter being applied in England, Sweden and Denmark. It is easy to observe that Załuski was a firm opponent of the majority vote system. What – in his opinion - was detrimental to the Polish Republic was the absence of the effective implementation of good laws. As a result he did not see any need for the introduction of new constitutional devices. The volume published by the bishop of Kiev assumed, to a large extent, also the shape of polemics conducted by him with Stanisław Konarski and with the treaty of the latter On the Effective Advice.

The paper analyses the legal construction of the shares of Polish public companies in the 18th century. The analysis relied on the statutes and documents referring to the shares. The Woolen Products Manufacturing Company founded in 1766 should be considered the first Polish public company. Before 1795, i.e. after Poland lost her independence due to the third partition of the country, there had been established as many as seven companies of that type. The surviving projects of statutes show that the founding of several other companies was planned. The period in which the first Polish companies functioned was short and most of them were dissolved within a few years after they had been founded. This was due inter alia to the difficulties in collecting the capital fund. The preserved source materials allow for the analysis of the legal nature and function performed by the shares in the construction of these companies. The author believes that – in the light of statutory provisions and the documents referring to the shares - it is possible to regard the shares connected with the companies as a part of joint stock capital and the entirety of the rights of the shareholders and also disposable securities. In particular, the shares of the first Polish public companies may be attributed the nature of the part of joint stock capital of the value determined in the statute. This capital, collected through contributions made by the partners in return for obtaining a specified number of shares, was the basis on which there functioned each of the companies subjected to the analysis.