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Mensarius is one of the terms describing Roman bankers. It is the Latin equivalent of the Greek trapezites – the term first used to describe persons making bank operations. This term was used by Titus Livius and from Ab urbe condita we can take important information about bankers. We find quinqueviri mensarii and triumviri mensarii. The first of them were appointed as a committee in 352 B.C., and according to plebiscitium de quinqueviris mensariis creandis. Quinqueviri mensarii were supposed to solve the problem of Roman citizens’ debts, arising from loans – nexum. They acted as as public banks. The results of the works of this committee were outstanding – they helped citizens and did not cause any loss for the treasury. It so happened, because they used public funds to cover the debts only when the debtors could give a sufficient guarantee. The rest of the debtors had to transfer their goods, which were then evaluated and sold. Triumviri mensarii were appointed as three independent clerks, having wide competences, to stop the crisis doming from the lack of money in circulation (propter penuriam argenti). They were appointed by lex Minucia de triumviris mensariis, from 216 B.C. The committee had probably the same competence as this from 352 B.C. However triumviri mensariis, contrary to the previous committee, were not appointed ad hoc, but they have operated as an office until 210 B.C. Their competence was wide. They registered citizens’ debts and were making payments. They were collecting money as depositum irregulare. Triumviri mensariis were clerks acting as state officials.You can claim that both described categories of Roman officials were acting as a sui generis public bank.
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The police is genetically connected with state. The tasks of the state, although not named by the notion “police”, were connected with the state according to the different powers of the state. The evolution of these tasks was a result of significant changes to the rights of human beings within the state. Tasks of institutional police had been fulfilled by the different structures and legal positions. From this point of view, the police may be treated as a military or civil structure. It may be a central structure – connected with governmental authorities, as well as decentralized – connected with local self-government. The police, according to its goals, may be an administrative police, police created to keep the security of citizens and police created to keep state security. The paper presented shows the genesis of this differentiation, as well as police formations, which are described by the criteria given above.
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In this article, the meaning and nature of ratification is discussed. It is shown that in early practice and doctrine, ratification was a confirmation that what had been signed had been duly and properly signed – an acknowledgment by a principal of the act of his agent. No doubt, this theory was not a strict acceptance of the doctrine of private law agency, even at a time when private law analogies were more freely accepted than they are today. For ratification of an act of an agent concluded within the limits of his authority is not strictly necessary in private law. But the difference is purely formal. In both cases – treaties and contracts made by agents – the signed document created obligations. In international law the document was not perfectly binding until a ratification was issued.It is, at any rate, clear that the private law analogy was valid in the seventeenth, and the greater part of the eighteenth, centuries to this extent: the duty to ratify – i.e. to acknowledge publicly the binding force of a signed treaty – was held not to apply when the agent had exceeded his instructions. This was the only generally recognized ground for refusing a ratification.The French and American Revolutions changed all this. They attempted to banish from public law the notion of absolute power. Indeed, for a short interval, as has been shown, the treaty– making power was vested in a national assembly – in France, the National Convention, in the United States, in Congress. But this was found impracticable, and in the United States the Senate reserved only the power to sanction and participate in the final act of ratification. When this deliberative element was introduced into the process of ratification, it became apparent that ratification could no longer be regarded as obligatory.An account of ratification in theory and in practice is incomplete without a study of the formal clauses in treaties with regard to the date of their coming into force. It is clear that, in many cases, ratification is dispensed with, either for reasons of expedition, or because ratification does not require any deliberation according to the constitutional practice of the States concerned. On the other hand, the development of the multipartite treaty caused signature or accession to supplant ratification, in the increasingly common case of States becoming parties to a treaty to which they are not original signatories.The very large number of constitutional texts prescribing a specific procedure for the conclusion of treaties, the changed character of ratification, and the existence in formal documents, and in treaties themselves, of clear stipulations as to satisfaction of constitutional requirements, it is impossible to ignore the relevance of such provisions in international law.
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The Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung – GmbH – is a widespread company form, known all over the world, which was adopted in 1892 by the German legislator. Its historical origins were essentially favored by important economic growth during the second half of the 19th- century. Smaller and medium-sized enterprises should be able to choose the legal form of the Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung in order to participate in a more convenient and easily accessible way in the country’s economic growth. This purpose could not be achieved by the highly regulated Aktiengesellschaft (public limited company) which was dedicated to large companies and was therefore too expensive and too complicated for smaller entities. Partnerships like, for instance, the Offene Handelsgesellschaft (general partnership) had the disadvantage that all partners were liable without restrictions to its creditors. The Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung was thought to cover the gap between corporations and partnerships.Despite some weaknesses, the Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung subsequently became a real model of success. Over the years, the Act on the GmbH was subject to constant reforms through practice and legislation, because it was necessary to take into account economic requirements and to counter maladministration in application of the GmbH Law. More recently, European legal standards had a further significant influence on the Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung. Since its creation, the GmbH has played a key role in German legal and economic life. It does exist in many diverse forms and has been for a long time the most popular form of company in Germany.
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The Białystok Voievodship was established in 1919. It consisted of the territories, which were earlier under Russian Empire rule, but belonged to two different administrative structures. Until 1928, the judiciary system has been regulated by laws coming from the time of the partitions or by temporary Polish regulation. In 1928 the judiciary system in Poland was unified.The most important problem in the judiciary system was the very frequent changes of the seats of the courts. Financial shortages were forcing the State to liquidate small courts. The result was very poor – people had troubles with access to the courts. Small courts were liquidated by the order of the Minister of Justice, not by the act of parliament. It was strongly criticized in the doctrine at that time.
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In December 1944 the International Civil Aviation Conference took place in Chicago, USA. Representatives of 50 states met to discuss new approaches toward the challenges of civil aviation in the post-war era. This article aims to present a historical note of the event, different interests and attitudes of the participants involved in the discussion, as well as the outcomes of the conference including the establishment of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
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The boards judging petty offences were established in December 1951. They were – from the beginning – entitled to judge traffic petty offences cases (petty offences against the security in traffic). In the first half of the 50’s the Boards were acting in a very simple way, by deciding cases about low-level fines (tickets) or about warnings. These minor punishments were not adequate to the decreasing safety on the roads and to the increasing number of cars. In 1956, Władysław Gomułka became the leader of the Communist Party and it was decided to change the policy in traffic petty offences cases by making the punishments more severe. The police started to give tickets more often and the boards were concentrating on punishing drunk drivers. However, the act against drunk drivers was antiquated and thus not adequate to the new situation. In 1959, the so called Anti-alcohol Act was passed and drunk driver cases were transferred to the courts. The Boards lost their importance in traffic petty offences cases, because the Police were giving tickets from one side and the courts were sentencing drunk drivers from the other side. In the 60’s the phenomenon of „road hooligans” emerged and a new act, called„the Road Code”, was passed. It gave new measures consistent with a stronger policy against traffic petty offences. The Boards played the most important role in this policy. The fines were increased three times, and the Boards could retain the drivers’ licenses for some time. The biggest part of the Boards’ jurisdiction was then concentrated on traffic petty offences, especially these connected with alcohol.
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One More Opinion about Secret Sections in Polish Courts in the 1950s‘Secret’ courts operating in the 1950s are a part of the infamous history of the Polish judiciary system. Although over half a century has passed since their creation, and Poland has went through a political transformation, such courts have not yet been held fully accountable for the crimes committed as an immediate effect of their decisions. It is worth noting, that the first attempt to hold these units accountable began during the crisis of the PRL in 1956. “The Thaw”, which then settled in various forms of social life, entered the judiciary system as well. Its end, as early as in the following year, had a clear influence on the effect of the post-October settling of scores. None of the ‘secret’ courts’ judges accused in front of a specially formed committee, were held responsible in any form, be it criminal or disciplinary.
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The presented document was included among informational materials for a session of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party (KC PZPR) on February 28, 1984. It was a report drafted by the Administrative Department of the Central Committee of PZPR, discussing both the social and political situation in lawyers’ circles. This topic was high on the agenda of political debates among communist party decision-makers, due to the strong influence the ‘Solidarność’ movement had on lawyer’s circles. Since the introduction of martial law on December 13, 1981, the communist party was trying to withdraw licences to practice a profession for all judges, prosecutors, attorneys and legal counsels who supported ‘Solidarność’. For this reason, the Administrative Department of the Central Committee of PZPR kept a close watch on the lawyers’ circles.
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The article deals with the formation of value orientations of citizens under conditions of ambivalent public rhetoric. The system of values of civic culture, characterized by the motivation to create certain values, namely the attitude of the individual to himself as the subject of civil society, critical thinking, optimism, positive attitude to social reality, the need for active participation in social processes and significant changes.The theoretical factual paper describes the scientific approach to the definition of conceptual and categorical apparatus. The author examines the concept of "civic culture" as a special subsystem of general culture, from the perspective of evolutionism and functionality. Exploring the structure of culture the author isolates its relationship with modality, the maturity of society, thoughts and actions, characteristic of a society, social dependency, behavioral patterns, values and ideas that reflect the relationship of features that is specifically taken from society.Special attention is focused on the author's definition and characteristics under the concept of "value". The author argues that it is the value of organizing knowledge, motivating behavior and activities of the individual, making human life filled with meaning.Summarizing scientific approaches to the definition of the concept the author identifies two main groups of values which are important in the formation of human beings, namely, material and spiritual, and concludes that values are ideas, norms, processes, relations material and spiritual order, having a positive objective value and are able to meet the specific needs of people. Human values is the link that connects its public and private life.Based on the scientific analysis of the author defines defines the value system of modern trends of Ukrainian state. The author believes that things that happened in Ukraine are caused by a break of certain social consciousness of citizens , determined the transition from traditional society to an innovative type of paternalism to civic participation,from authoritarianism to democracy. This process is accompanied by the transformation of value systems that formed the basis of society and state.The author believes that Ukrainian society has undergone fundamental structural changes due to the destruction of the existing value system for decades. Social transformation led not only to changes in economic, political and cultural institutions, but also become a source of instability social environment caused blurring objects identification values. There is a contradictory process radical reassessment of the totality of values, which leads to difficulties in adapting to the individual requirements of modern times, strengthens the processes of social anomie.The author believes that the important form of expression of civic culture is law and morality. The law and morality form the model and the value-normative standards of society orientations.In the process of historical development of civic culture the ideals and norms of rationality have been absorbed.This active, rational-activist culture in my opinion, is today a prerequisite of social and cultural development of manyWestern countries. That culture directs people to actively mastering social reality in all its spheres.According to the author in the structure of civic culture stand stable values not subject to the passage of time, we can say, classic, universal primary function is to convert the objective imperatives of social activity in the subjective goals, motives actions and deeds. Civic values is to strengthen the existing system, they meet the criterion of general significance and that is objectively serve the integrity of society by rationing behavior of the person.In conclusion, the author distinguishes four important basic components, namely cognitive, as the basis of socio-psychological, economic, political, legal, cultural and historical knowledge; axiological as important values, an ideal position; reflexive, as a special ability to think critically, the ability to explore and discuss the nature of events, using various sources of information, etc.; behavioral, as a way of socially transformative activities based on sustainable values.Characteristic features of civic culture is its autonomy, rationality, and rational-critical attitude to reality, democracy, tolerance and pluralism. The ability to exercise their rights, freedoms, availability of high responsibility towards society and the state, patriotism . Those are valuable principles on which is formed a high level of civic culture.The author argues that the purpose of civic culture is to build value orientations of members of civil society, as well as symbolic and normative mediation of their interaction with each other. Without civic culture, understood as the capacity for dialogue, consensus and co-operation in general civil purposes, the company is doomed to collapse.
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Review of: Anna Grześkowiak-Krwawicz "Czy rewolucja może być legalna? 3 maja 1791 w oczach współczesnych,"; Publisher DiG, Warsaw 2012, 226 pages; by: Adam Lityński
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Review of: A. M. Giomaro "Sulla presenza delle scuole di dirittoe la formazione giuridica nel tardoantico"; Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2011, pp. 211; by: Piotr Sawicki
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Nummularii, like the other groups of entrepreneurs in the ancient Rome, such as tra- pezitae, argentarii, mensarii, mensularii, coactores, coactores argentarii, stipulatores argentarii, collectarii, were engaged in the banking business. Among the wide range of services offered by the Roman bankers nummularii dealt initially only with the quality andexchange of coins. Therefore, by performing these operations they performed the role of official assay institutions. Their duties were initially primarily to examine coins and metal from which they were made, and setting the value of minted gold and silver co- ins. Nummularii have used empirical examining methods, based on the senses of sight, touch, hearing, and by comparing them to the patterns and samples. They also checked whether the coin was minted by the appropriate authority. There is no evidence that other bankers, in addition to nummularii, were involved in the control of the quality of the coin. Presumably, after some time they expanded their business in banking. In addi- tion to examining the quality of coins nummularii also engaged in their exchange. They conducted also deposit operations and that’s why they became competitors to argentarii on the market of banking services.
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The author raises the issue of distinct ownership of premises in a historical perspective. The author starts his analises of a specific kind of distinct ownership of premises on the grounds of the Napoleonic Code in relation to the floors of the building. Further analysis was applicable during the interwar period of the Polish state. The author analyses the legal act from 1934 on the ownership of dwellings. In the following section there is description of the provisions contained in the Civil Code, taking into account amendments to the act. This allows one to compare the quality of legal acts from 1918 to 1989. To show the fullness of this adjustment the last section shows current regulations contained in the Act on Ownership of Premises, which entered into force in 1995.
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In last 20 years Slovenian civil law has experienced a revival and it tried to get rid of the former influences of socialism and communism. Slovenia does not have a uniform civil code. Civil law is governed by the four headline acts: Code of Obligation (from 2001 with changes), Property Code (from 2002 with changes), Marriage and Family Relations Act (from 1976, but with last official consolidated text from 2004 and later changes) and Succession Act (from 1976 with changes). Especially noticeable changes were made in the area of property law, which in last 20 years has undergone several substantive changes. The new Code of Obligations has largely succeeded former Yugoslav obligation law, but in some areas it has brought new radical changes (e.g. contract of donation, life care contract, loan agreement). Succession and family law are still governed by the law from year 1976, but family law was subjected important changes, especially regarding the children and foster care. In 2005 an Act on Same sex registered partnership. A new Family Code was also adopted, but the Slovenes in the referendum in March 2012 decided against the new Family code, so that it is now in the process of change. In 2012, a first draft of the Succession Act was also created. It was subjected least changes since 1991.
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The author analyzes the institution of Mortgage Registers appearing in the Kingdom of Poland. In this paper, there is the analysis of the legal act from 1818, which provided the obligation of keeping the Mortgage Registers for a larger property. These are laws that cover subject to entry, the issue of the priority of rights and the effects of the registration in the Mortgage Council. Additionally, the paper concerns the issue of the construction of the Mortgage Registers. A description of magistracies mortgage system and the competent authorities, which include the Commission and the Departments of Land Court – are also provided.The analysis has been extended by the case law of the Supreme Court of the interwar period.
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The Confederate Constitution of 1861 has been an important development in American constitutional law. The Montgomery Convention that drafted the constitution chose not to create an entirely new document, but instead to copy and revise the United States Constitution of 1787. Nearly verbatim identity of most provisions of the two texts highlights the differences arising from deliberate alterations introduced by the Confederates. This article analyzes those changes in light of their political and legal background and classifies them into three broad categories: first, amendments designed to “restore” the balance of federal and state powers to the states’ rights ideal envisioned by Southern political leaders and to check further growth of federal authority; second, provisions designed to augment or clarify constitutional protections of slavery and thereby addressing the direct causes of secession; and third, governmental innovations mostly related to separation of powers and fiscal affairs (such as line-item veto, executive budget, or the single subject rule) that were not directly related to the major sectional controversies of the antebellum era, but instead addressed what the framers of the Confederate Constitution believed to be practical deficiencies of the 1787 Constitution.While the first two categories are of interest mainly to historians of the antebellum period, as embodying to a large extent the Southern view of the Constitution (though falling short of endorsing Calhounian ideas of nullification and concurrent majority), the last one also influenced many state constitutions adopted during and after the Civil War, thereby permanently contributing to development of American constitutional tradition.
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From the times of William the Conqueror to 1858, jurisdiction in all marriage matters belonged to the ecclesiastical courts. The courts decided the cases applying the canon law. Marriage, as an institution of the canon law, was also the sacred sacrament. As a consequence, it was treated as an indissoluble union, lasting until the death of one spouse. Although it seemed that the idea of indissolubility of marriage was widely accepted, actions taken by people from various social layers were in contradiction to it. Since 1858 to the third decade of XX c. the English law of divorce was largely changed. This changes were accompanied by the transformation in social consciousness, that is why marriage has never been seen as before.
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