Wprowadzenie ochrony trwałości umówionego stosunku pracy w stosunkach prywatnych w Królestwie Polskim po 1815 roku
Introduction of protection of the lasting nature of the contractual labour relations in private relations in the Kingdom of Poland, after 1815

Summary/Abstract: The economic growth that occurred in the Polish lands under the Russian reign in the 19th century resulted from the profound changes in the social structure of the Kingdom of Poland. Establishment of new industrial plants resulted in the an increase in the population of cities. This in turn resulted in the increase in the number of hired hands, and the development of a new social group – workers. The Napoleonic Code, binding at the time in the Kingdom of Poland would only generally regulate the contractual relations between the parties, and did not include any norms or standards that would regulate the conditions of performing labour by the labourers. The work is primarily devoted to the tracing of the initial period in development of legal norms, providing the nucleus of labour law in the Kingdom of Poland after 1815. The original stimulus was the need to analyse and order available knowledge on the subject, and comparison of individual institutions that regulated labour relations. The principles of hiring workers were contained in the decision of the Governor of the Kingdom of Poland, general Józef Zajączek of 24th December 1823, and later in the Act on Rural Community Courts in the Kingdom of Poland of 24th May 1860. These were the first bodies of law to have introduced generally binding regulations concerning specific employee rights and duties, and also norms that served the protection of labour relations. Even though their scope covered only some categories of hired staff, owing to the introduced regulations and the long periods of their validity, they were of fundamental importance for the people employed on their power. Acts of law ensured only the basic norms for limited social groups. Moreover, they were deeply founded in the feudal relations of the period. It was so, as the regulations introduced retained the remnants of the feudal power of the overlord over an employee. A range of solutions to ensure better control were introduced towards servants and labourers. Moreover, the typically feudal law to apply bodily punishment remained with the overlords. Despite the above, the law emphasised the equality of the parties to the contract that stemmed from the freedom of changing their place of residence and lease. Moreover, the labourers were granted a range of rights, and their legal situation was regulated. These regulations did not, however, provide any ready-made solutions in labour protection. There were only the grounds, the nucleus for shaping later legal norms that more extensively protected employees against overexploitation of their position by the employers. Thus, they were just the beginning of more material changes that were only to come.

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