%0 Journal Article
%T Privileged Decree of Last Will in the Law and Jurisprudence of the Courts of the Territories of the Former Austrian Partition in the Interwar Period Drawn up during the Plague
%A Koredczuk, Józef
%J Cracow Studies of Constitutional and Legal History
%V Volume 14 (2021)
%R 10.4467/20844131KS.21.013.13521
%N Volume 14, Issue 2
%P 189-203
%K ABGB, jurisprudence of the courts, decree of last will, testamentary witnesses, privileged (special) will, Austrian partition, plague
%@ 2084-4115
%D 2021
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/kshpp/article/uprzywilejowane-rozporzadzenia-ostatniej-woli-sporzadzane-podczas-zarazy-w-prawie-i-orzecznictwie-sadow-bylego-zaboru-austriackiego-w-okresie-miedzywojennym
%X Diseases and the risk of death associated with them i.e. from plagues (epidemics), especially danger­ous as virulence increased, led the legislature to provide in the provisions of the inheritance law for the testator to draw up a will which for its validity had less formal requirements than an ordinary will, but would be in force in the event of the sudden death of the testator. Such a possibility was included by the Austrian legislature in the possibility for such a person to take advantage of the privileged decree of last will, the rules of which are regulated in §§ 597–599 ABGB. According to these rules, in places where there was a plague or similar plagues, the testator could make a will before two people who were at least fourteen years old. At the same time, they did not have to be present due to the risk of contracting a disease. The laconic nature of the conditions enabling the use of a privileged will as defined in ABGB meant that in practice these issues had to be finally resolved by the judicature of the courts.