Prawo celem polityki w Polsce Jagiellonów
The Law as a Policy Aim in Jagiellon Poland

Summary/Abstract: Over the course of history, on countless occasions the law had been treated as an instrument for conducting policy. Such is also the contemporary understanding of the function of law in democratic countries. Yet, during the Jagiellon period the law was a means, not an end. It was defined in absolute terms, as a desirable ideal state for which one should strive. Consequently, it was politics that served as a means for the realization of the goal, which was the law, and not conversely. Moreover, the view that civil law should be in accord with divine law and natural law, was widely accepted. Consequently, creating new laws required an axiological justification. Among the goals of the constitutions passed by Parliament, the legislators enumerated, among others, the wellbeing of citizens, peace, good government, order, justice. At the same time, in the opinion of the gentry, it was the privileges which in many cases constituted a departure from the common law and served as a means of realization of one’s immediate political goals, this playing a highly negative role. This type of policy was curbed by the limitations imposed by the concept of common law perceived as superordinate over particular and individual rights, and at the same time understood as wise law that was in accord with the divine and natural law. In its relation to politics, common law was therefore perceived as a goal to which all group and individual rights used in the form of political instruments should be subordinated. The Polish common law which had been shaped during the first Jagiellon rulers, became the fundamental goal of the policy of the Polish state during the reign of the last representatives of this dynasty.

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