We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
The beginnings of the liberal movement as a political party in post-war Germany were not easy. The first liberal party organizations were created on the level of each occupation zones as separate political structures. The process of consolidation of these organizations took place gradually. Firstly, it covered the integration of organizations concentrated within each of the zone. The second stage of the very process of consolidation of the German liberal movement was to consist in the unification of the most important party centres from particular occupation zones, and creation of a unified political party. However, the development of the international situation led to the split between liberal activists from the Soviet zone and politicians of liberal parties from western occupation zones in 1948. From that time, the consolidation process of a liberal formation concerned only party organizations from western occupation zones. Its closure was the unity of these organizations and creation of a liberal political party on their basis, which happened in December 1948. The very party was officially called FDP — a Liberal-Democratic Party, under the label of which acted liberal politicians in the British zone. An organizational split of the liberal movement caused a situation in which it did not constitute a whole in terms of the programme either. Before they united particular liberal organizations within the FDP, the very movement encompassed various trends and programme tendencies. It also concerned the systemic issues of post-war Germany. The only document liberal politicians managed to prepare was Wytyczne polityczno-ustrojowe presented during a constitutional debate in Zone Advisory Council in 1947. The very conception, however, was not representative for the whole liberal movement. Apart from general slogans on the need to build a democratic, legal and federal nation, liberal politicians did not manage to work out a coherent and unified system conception of post-war Germany between 1945 and 1948.
More...
This article concerns the matter of democracy in The First Republic of Poland (1569/73—1795). The author puts forward the thesis that fundamental rules of the concept of deliberative democracy, postulated today, were realized in the old polish times, but only in sphere of noblemen. Then democracy was largely open; noblemen very active took part in public debate on local councils and through their deputies. It was a debate with equals participators, open, based on arguments, which were used to convince opponents. Freedom of speech was unlimited. A public debate realized informative and educational functions. It was possible, because on local councils and diets operated a rule of common agreement; all participants in the debate had to agree to make an united decision — otherwise thought that a decision was not adopted. When the conflict between noblemen and the king began to grow The First Polish Republic lost its power and falled.
More...
Many changes in pre-war regulations allowing the communists to use them under new socio-political circumstances were made in the first years of the People’s Republic of Poland. A decree from March 19 1928 was replaced with a decree from November 16 1945 on a summary proceeding (Dz.U. nr 53, poz. 301). The “defectiveness” of the realization of the aims of the criminal politics of a summary judiciary caused a situation in which the ministry of justice considered releasing circulars reminding the courts of the aims underpinning an introduction of the summary procedure as appropriate as early as before the amendment of the decree proceeding from 1946. Top-down, the attempts were made to influence judge verdicts who were to be theoretically limited by only the regulations of the act. The amendment of the decree of a summary proceeding from 1949, the chance to appeal to sentences made by a prosecutor was eliminated. After a breakthrough in October 1956, the ministry committee investigating the reflexes of legal violation in the Stalin period, evaluated one-instance of the summary procedure as being “far from the ideal of legality”. The regulations of the decree from November 16 1945 on summary proceedings with later changes did not influence the obedience to the principle of court and judge independence in the People’s Republic of Poland. A negative influence brought a practical application of the decree on summary proceedings or, rather, yet another example of avoiding its resolutions by the communist authorities. A common summary judiciary managed not to be involved into the mechanism of infringement. The very procedure, however, was to be fully used in front of the military courts where the court and judge independence were just empty slogans.
More...
The Bolsheviks had revolutionary conceptions of creating a revolutionary law, totally different than the bourgeois law. The revolutionary law was to exist only in the temporary period on the way to communism. According to Marks’ and Lenin’s conception, the country and law were to vanish completely in communism. Revolutionary conceptions and revolutionary law started to get civilised and closer to European solutions in the half of the 1930s. Paradoxically, a gradual civilization of the revolutionary law started in the period of the biggest Stalin’s terror. The reality and law norm were divergent to the greatest extent.
More...
The article brings the verdict of the District Military Court in Rzeszów to people accused of committing offences against the state from 86 article of the criminal code of the Polish Army closer, namely, an attempt to change the system of the country or remove the organs of the authority violently. The very court claimed that proving any connection to the WiN association, including casual social contacts with the association members, was the basis for ascribing the crime to them from the 86 article of the criminal code of the Polish Army and the guilty verdict. The court did not take into account the fact that the activity of some convicts was not connected with the aim to use violence, and proved organizational activity was limited to reading WiN press or taking part in organizational meetings. Strict verdicts of people who were proven even casual contacts with the WiN organization, seem to prove that the court used 86 article of the criminal code of the Polish Army to eliminate political opponents from the society.
More...
Skrzetuski’s considerations on confederations were very general in nature whereas the author of Prawo polityczne narodu polskiego is portrayed as their opponent. Within his, momentarily very general, description of the history and ways of functioning confederation in the former Republic, he shows his moderate views treating confederation as the necessary evil. It is different in the case of liberum veto, which he criticises after Konarski, though also in this case there is the lack of a directly expressed postulate of a total elimination of this institution.
More...
The Legislative Sejm enacted a constitutional act concerning the completion of the constitutional act of July 15, 1920 including an organic statute of the Silesian voivodship (Dz.U.R.P. Nr 73, poz. 497) on its 216th sitting. The first amendment was announced in Dz.U.R.P. Nr 26, poz. 146 published on March 22, 1921. The chronologically second constitutional act of the Reborn Poland, being propaganda and political in nature, and preceding the date of the plebiscite in Upper Silesia (on March 20, 1921) by just 12 days, completed the statut by adding the article 8a, as well as the article 33 of the statute, through enacting the paragraph 3. The article 8a of the statute equipped the Silesian Sejm with passive legislative competences meaning that the Sejm of the Republic of Poland can change acts concerning four areas of economy (mining, industry, trade and handicraft) and biding in Upper Silesia on the day of its overtaking by Poland only when agreed on by the Silesian Sejm. The amendment completed the article 33 by the paragraph 3, partially modeled on the article 16 of the Weimar’s constitution (11.08.1919 r.). This new regulation included resolutions beneficial for the Silesian population, namely: — that state officials, working in the Silesian voivodship should generally come from the Silesian voivodship; — that when appointing the offices of the state administration, it is the officials from the Silesian voivodship that are given priority holding the same qualifications; — that officials and workers or labourers from the Silesian voivodship working in state administration or in state companies in the Silesian voivodship may be transferred to other voivodships of the Republic of Poland against their own will if their education or the prevailing state service’s business require it. In the article, the author presented the origin of the constitutional act of 8 March, 1921, an interpretation of its regulations and realization of the regulations of the act in practice.
More...
The regulations protecting civil population against abuse on the part of the soldiers started to appear in view of the military art development observed at the beginning of the 20th century, and a change of conducting military conflicts in criminal legislation of particular countries. Protection of civil population against the effects of the war was the issue particularly important in the light of the World War II. After its end, many norms of an international law making an effort to meet this problem were created. Regulations predicting criminal responsibility of the soldiers for crimes against population and property (war crimes) also appeared in the post-war military criminal law. They were included into the Criminal Code of Polish Army from 1944 making its chapter XXV. Being a combination of solutions functioning on the basis of the military criminal code from 1932 and Soviet patterns, the regulations of chapter XXV were biding until the criminal code of the People’s Republic of Poland from 1969 was put into effort.
More...
The security service (SB) has been interested in the staff of the University of Silesia since its creation (1968), however, a significant increase in that type of interest was noticed in the 1970s and 1980s. The scope of observation of academic circles has increased at that time, finishing this very process with the formation of a separate unit of the SB in 1982, the task of which was a struggle with anti-systemic attitudes in the environment of higher education in Katowice. In its operational work, SB gained secret agents (TW) from the academic circle (academics, students, academictechnical workers, supportive organs), and used operational connections (KO). The operational connections involved usually members of the Polish United Workers Party. It was assumed that they are to some extent obliged to “help” the security organs, without imposing any formal commitments consisting in signing the declarations of cooperation on the secret service organ at the same time. They worked more eagerly than secret agentswho were often gained via blackmail or other forms of compulsion. Operational contacts in the form of people performing big and decisive functions in the university were often used. After November 1989, a subsequent reorganization of the SB, deriving from a change of the political situation in the country, the task of the “security” of higher education and academic institutions was taken over (together with an agency) by the Constitutional State Order Protection Division. Its officers closed the case “University” in January 1990 and made the exposition materials be destroyed. Finally, the observation of the academic circle by the structures of the security service finished with its liquidation between May and August 1990.
More...
District Military Courts (DMC) were erected on the basis of a secret organizational command no 023, issued by the Ministry of National Defense on January 20, 1946. The prototype of the DMC were the Soviet tribunals of the People’s Office for Interior Services. The subjective quality of the DMC covered the officers of the public security, the Citizen’s Militia officers, The Internal Security Corps soldiers, and officers of the prison service. The DMC was also used to adjudicate in cases of civilians accused of political crimes, which makes the DMC a repression organ against the opponents of the communist authority. The structure of courts and organization of work was based on the official subordination typical of a military unit. District military courts were under the control of managers having an administrative supervision over the activity of the court, and professional one over all workers of the court. The content duties belonged to judges. The Polish Committee of National Liberation Decree from September 23, 1944 — The law of the system of military courts and military prosecutors did not provide any demanding requirements to the candidates for judges. The basic criterion of the choice of the personnel was political qualifications, not education. The very phenomenon was especially visible starting from 1948 when pre-war lawyers were exempted from the service of justice. The judges who the communist authority did not trust, were replaced by the staff educated in the People’s Republic of Poland. A chain of military courts was closed in line with enacting an act from April 5, 1955 on transposing the quality of military courts in terms of criminal cases of civil citizens, officers of the organs of the public security, the Citizen’s Militia and prison service on common courts (Dz.U. nr 15, poz. 83).
More...
Schrifttum, Zeitschriftenumschau und Gesetzgebung
More...
Welche Rechtsstellung genießen in Slowenien die Angehörigen der Nationalitäten aus dem ehemaligen Jugoslawien? Wie und inwieweit unterscheidet sie sich von derjenigen der autochthonen Minderheiten? Die normative Regelung unterscheidet sich deutlich, denn für die italienische und ungarischeMinderheit regelt die Verfassung eine Sonderbehandlung, Bereichsgesetze gibt es darüber hinaus für die ansässige Roma-Bevölkerung.Die Zugewanderten werden auf die Grund- undMenschenrechte und auf Kulturabkommen mit den Herkunftsländern verwiesen. Janez Obreza, Direktor des Volksgruppenamtes der slowenischen Regierung, analysiert für Sie den rechtlichen Rahmen, zeigt aber auch, dass über die Förderung und Unterstützung seines Amtes und anderer Stellen die rechtlichen Unterscheidungen zwischen autochthonen und zugewanderten Minderheiten mehr und mehr verblassen. Eine an sich erfreuliche Tendenz.
More...