Polish Military Articles of 1775
Polish Military Articles of 1775

Summary/Abstract: The Polish Military Articles of 1775 may be classified as one the most essential changes of law introduced in the reign of Stanisław August. The Articles contained two parts: the first one concerning substantive law (known as The Military ArticlesI), and the second one relating to procedural matters (known as The Legal Military Procedure). The codification of military substantive law in the Nobiliary Polish Republic was, in fact, far from being the best Enlightenment model. Nevertheless, the whole range of solutions proves that the substantive part of the military codification of 1775 implemented some of the postulates of the humanitarian school in the area of criminal law. They were as follows: the introduction of a gradated penalty according to responsibility for a crime, the introduction of defined sanctions and conduct concerning recidivism, the replacement of capital punishment with life imprisonment as combined with forced labour, a more frequent application of forced labour penalty for serious crimes, an almost complete elimination of arbitral or dishonourable penalties and the use of reformatory measures.

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