Solidarity and the Judiciary in the Polish People’s Republic in the Years 1980 – 1981

Author(s): Kamil Niewiński / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

The revolutionary social movement of Solidarity, which was born in the socialist Poland in 1980, was the driving force behind the political transition of 1989/90, which in turn led to the democratisation of social and political life in this country. The early years of Solidarity saw the formulation of a social reform programme that laid foundations for political transformations. The judiciary was a very important sphere of the state functioning that required major reforms. The creation of a fully independent and self-governing judiciary model has become one of the primary purposes of Solidarity. The concepts of reforms in this area, developed by Solidarity in 1980-81, are presented in the article from the perspective of state archival sources and labour union documents. The Polish justice system has been operating until this day on the basis of these concepts; some of the proposed solutions, however, have never been brought to life and may constitute comparative legal material for further discussion about the judiciary system.

Marxism in the West Thought Interpretation of Law in Postwar Period

Author(s): Jiří Bílý / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2015

Until now, all of the diverse and valuable contributions to the Marxist theory of law have been scattered across the academic landscape. The article is a most timely overview of the theory of law. It brings together a vision of the classical tradition before attending to a comprehensive survey of recent contributions to what has become an increasingly diversified field. It lays the basis for a fruitful engagement between these different strands. The author hopes that this article can contribute to building a truly interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of law in its varied manifestations by having clarified, and thereby uncovered the value of, the disciplinary contours of law.

Nauczanie prawa w gimnazjum w Brzegu w latach 1564–1792

Author(s): Józef Koredczuk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2017

The author of the article presents the circumstances of the founding of the famous Protestant gymnasium (Gymnasium Illustre) by Prince George II in Brzeg in 1564, showing the role of that school in the implementation of other reforms launched by the Prince of Brzeg and the situation in Silesia at that time. The final caesura is 1792, when teaching law in the gymnasium in Brzeg, which is the main subject of the author’s considerations, was over. The author discusses in detail the teaching of law in that school, teaching of the scheme and the importance of law in the curriculum. Moreover, the author presents the figures of people who taught law in the gymnasium in Brzeg and their official careers. Special attention is paid to James Schickfuss. The author also shows the sporadic contacts of the gymnasium in Brzeg with some Polish grammar schools and the fate of some of its graduates.

Ustrój konstytucyjny wolnego i hanzeatyckiego miasta Lubeka w latach 1848–1939

Author(s): Tadeusz Maciejewski / Language(s): Polish Issue: XXXVIII/2017

The constitutional system of Lübeck was formed in the mid-twelfth century. Until the second half of the 17th century it remained unchanged. However, the constitutional recesses of 1665 and 1669 only little changed the medieval image of the organization of the city based on state institutions with a strong advantage of patricians. Greater reforms were not introduced also at the beginning of the 19th century, when the city was under French domination. It was only the Spring of Nations of 1848 that created favorable conditions for the change of the existing legal status. On April 8, 1848, the first Constitution of Lübeck was adopted, replacing twelve state bourgeois colleges by a 120-person Citizens’ Assembly.However, the electoral system for this institution was criticized which resulted in its revision on December 29, 1851. After the creation of the Second Reich (1871), Lübeck became a member of the German federation. The new constitutional system of the city based on the mid-nineteenth century model was implemented by the Constitution of April 1875, revised after the reform of electoral law on October 9, 1907. After the creation of the WeimarRepublic on April 23, 1920, another constitution was adopted which was based on the previous ones. Finally, in 1933, the city was incorporated to Prussia as a separate district under the provisional law on the uniformity of the constitutional system.

Sprawa Dražena Erdemovića jako przykład odpowiedzialności za wykonanie bezprawnego rozkazu na gruncie przepisów międzynarodowego prawa karnego

Author(s): Katarzyna Czeszejko-Sochacka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2018

The article considers the problem of responsibility for executing an unlawful order, according to the regulations of the international criminal law, using the example of Dražen Erdemović, a soldier of the 10th Sabotage Detachment of the Bosnian Serb Army, who was accused of crimes against humanity, including his participation in the massacre of the unarmed Muslims from Srebrenica on 16th July 1995. His case deserves scrutiny as he pleaded guilty and thus adopted a certain line of defense strategy at the International Tribunal Court for the former Yugoslavia. The accused was aware of having violated the rules of the international criminal law and the charges filed against him accordingly, but – at the same time – he stated that if he had not executed the order, he would have been killed.

Jan Orzelski (1551–1617), parlamentarzysta i kronikarz

Author(s): Włodzimierz Kaczorowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2018

Jan Orzelski was actively involved in the political life of the Republic of the Nobles as a member of a regional assembly, a deputy and next a senator. He recorded the history of his family in the work entitled Annales domus Orzelsciae. It was edited by Adam Tytus Działyński on the basis of a manuscript stored in the Kórnik Library together with a family diary Kopia pobożnej pamięci imci Elżbiety Orzelskiej. Annales… consists of two parts: a comprehensive introduction and a chronicle containing annual entries regarding the most important events in Jan Orzelski’s family in the years 1589–1611 (that period being extended to 1618 by adding the diary Kopia pobożnej pamięci…). Much focus in the first part of the Annales... was placed on Stefan Batory’s military campaigns to conquer Polotsk (1579), Velikiye Luki (1580) and Pskov (1581), in which Jan Orzelski took part as a cavalry captain. The author’s intention, however, was not to describe those military campaigns in detail but to present “only some memorable issues”. The Annales... depicts, first of all, the origins of the “family from Orle”, the history and the characteristics of the family members in the male line. The author included his biography as well.

Uwagi na temat ukształtowania domum vi introire na gruncie sullańskiej lex Cornelia de iniuriis

Author(s): Dobromiła Nowicka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4(1)/2018

The article concerns the matter of domum vi introire – a violent intrusion into someone’s house, introduced into Roman Law by Cornelian law de iniuriis in 81 BC. The issue is analysed in the socio-political context of introduction of this regulation aimed to define its ratio legis as strictly connected to the goal of providing peace and safety in the city, and, by this means, establishing the new order. However, the conduct of domum vi introire was considered as closely related to the dignity of an individual from the very beginning, and as such complying with the concept of iniuria created within the praetorian edicts. It is exactly this feature that enabled the evolution of perception of this conduct in the direction of the contemporary concept of trespass.

Konrad z Opola i jego dzieło

Author(s): Józef Koredczuk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4(1)/2018

In his contribution, the author presents Conrad of Opole, who was the author of the manuscripts of The Saxon Mirror, prepared for Cracow and Wroclaw (the so-called Versio Wratislaviensis), and then other sources of Magdeburg law (such as the Magdeburg Weichbild). The author of this article concentrates on the creation of these monuments of law, but also on their significance for the development of urban law in Poland as the basis for the location and system of cities in Poland. Moreover, these reflections provide an opportunity to present the mutual relations between Wroclaw and Cracow during their location.

Przywilej lokacyjny Lublina z 1317 r. Siedemset lat nadania praw miejskich

Author(s): Jerzy Nikołajew / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4(1)/2018

The Municipal Charter granted to Lublin in 1317 by Prince Władysław the Short was the then state power’s acknowledgement for the urban aspirations of the town which at that time gained the status of a metropolis of the eastern Poland. The powers of the mayor and the burgesses of Lublin were the re-enactment of the provisions contained in other charters of that period, which resulted from the adoption of the German town law. The founding document of Lublin failed to include certain specific provisions (e.g. the right to timber, the right of storage, the right of fair days). However, other privileges concerning common town-related decisions (e.g. the right to land, own judiciary, share in income from rents) were typical of charters granted under the Magdeburg Law.

Księga praw miejskich Głubczyc (Codex Iuris Lubschicensis)

Author(s): Andrzej Szymański / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4(1)/2018

In the paper, a unique monument in the area of town charters history is presented, that is The Town Charter of Głubczyce. At present, housed by the National Archives in Opole, it was written in Gothic. On the both sides of each of the 241 parchment pages of goat skin in two columns (several pages have got only ruled lines). It was bound later on (the beginning of the 20th century) in oak boards, covered with brown leather. The corners of the both covers and their insides have brass bindings of open-work with the motif of a crown and cone knobs – feet. The book has the following dimensions 40 x 29.5 [cm] and is well preserved. The legal regulations contained in it became the basis of functioning of many towns in Silesia, Czech and Moravia, laying the foundation for the family of the town rights of Głubczyce.

Urzędy wójtowskie w rękach małopolskich Gryfitów w XV wieku. Analiza źródłowa

Author(s): Tomasz Kruszewski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4(1)/2018

The situation of medieval knights holding the office of governors – heads of villages – was not exceptional. The Gryfits from Lesser Poland were one of this kind of family. The author has occupied himself with the history of this House for some time, paying attention especially to matters connected with the recognition of the Gryfits and the Houses of Lisowie and Wierzbnowie as Pomeranian princes, and all of them as the second branch of the dynasty ruling in Poland. In this publication, profiles of chosen members of the family, ones who served the office of governors in different contexts, are described. Each of the above-mentioned examples presents a different situation, for instance: when a knight could attain an influential position at the royal court, yet the titular office was burdened with specific circumstances. First he was the plenipotentiary of the governor’s wife, then after the governor’s death (in rather mysterious circumstances), he became the husband to the widow and took over the late Governor’s post. Still, this is – as it seems – the timeless problem of sentiment, faithfulness and betrayal. Thus, succession and transferability of the Governor’s office was also thoroughly discussed.

Procesy i egzekucje „żywych trupów” przed sądami miejskimi i wiejskimi w XVI–XVIII wieku – przyczynek do wierzeń w magia posthuma na Śląsku

Author(s): Daniel Wojtucki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4(1)/2018

There are references reaching back to the Middle Ages, regarding the fear of the “undead” or “living dead” who would rise from their graves in a local cemetery to haunt and harm the community. The fear of the “undead” was extremely strong, and the entailing hysteria often affected entire communities. In the 16th to the 18th century, in Silesia, effective forms of coping with the harmful deceased were developed. Analysing the preserved source material, we are able to determine that the basic actions involved finding the grave of the “undead” in the cemetery, exhuming the corpse and destroying it. However, this did not always mean the total annihilation of the poor man’s corpse. The trial and execution of the corpse of a person suspected of the harmful activity against the living took place observing almost the same rules as in the case of the living. Apart from the authorities, who usually commissioned local jurors to handle the situation, opinions and advice were also sought from the clergy as well as gravediggers and executioners. The last were considered to be experts of sorts and were often called upon to see corpses of the suspected dead. In the analysed cases of posthumous magic (magia posthuma) in Silesia, we deal with two directions of handling the corpse accused of a harmful posthumous activity. In both cases, the main decision was made to remove such corpses from the cemetery’s area. Costs of the trial and execution of the “undead” were considerable. They included expenses incurred due to rather frequent court hearings at which sometimes dozens of witnesses were heard, payments to expert witnesses, payments to guards watching graves, costs of legal instructions, services of gravediggers who would dig up suspicious graves, and, finally, the remuneration of executioners and their people. In the second half of the 18th century, despite relevant decrees issued by supreme authorities, trials and executions of the dead were not completely abandoned.

Miasta w polityce władz Królestwa Polskiego w latach 1815–1830

Author(s): Rafał Kania / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4(1)/2018

Cities and towns are of greater significance than a mere form of urbanization. They are centres of development and progress, accumulating the potential of industry and culture. The 19th century was the period of a dynamic development of cities and towns in Europe. It also saw flourishing of the middle-class and maturing of their views and system of values. Those processes involved towns on the territory of the Commonwealth of Poland, although on a very limited scale. This was a consequence of the exceptional situation after the Third Partition in 1795. The article analyses the position of towns in the policy of the government of the Kingdom of Poland (1815–1830).

Miasta i mieszczanie w życiu politycznym przedrozbiorowej Polski

Author(s): Paweł Wiązek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4(1)/2018

The publication is devoted to the problems of towns and townspeople’s activity in the political life of Poland before the Partitions. The research problem taken up in the article determined the possibly universal understanding of the term “town” and resignation from penetrating into terminological disputes related to the multifaceted nature of “urban issues” resulting in polemical multithreading in the doctrine. A broad temporal range was supposed to show the dynamics of undertaken actions, the progress and regress of the discussed process and the diversity of forms of active participation of towns and townspeople in the political life of the state. The author also tried to consider whether the explored issue could have an impact on the original direction of the systemic evolution of the former Polish statehood.

Nazistowscy przywódcy przedwojennego Opola i opozycja antyhitlerowska w latach 1933–1945 w świetle akt z Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej oraz z Archiwum Państwowego w Opolu

Author(s): Janusz Oszytko / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4(1)/2018

The article is a new contribution to the local history of Opole of 1933–1945 in the light of not known and not published archival documents about the pre-war Nazi leaders of the Opole Regency and the anti-Hitler opposition as well. Those documents are stored both in the State Archive in Opole (file: Gestapo Oppeln) and in the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN Archive – various archive files). The first part of the article describes the Nazi elite of the Opole Regency in the period of 1933–1945. This interesting and complicated history of Opole and Opole region concerns the operation of the NSDAP monoparty, as well as its affiliated organizations and repressive organs of a totalitarian state. This part of the article was developed mainly from various files from the Institute of National Remembrance. The second part describes the anti-Hitler opposition in the Opole Regency in the period of 1933–1945. Very interesting and also not known in the scientific circulation are materials about political opponents, collected by Gestapostelle Oppeln, which are right now being published by the author of the article, following the previous article about the files relating to the Jews (dealt with in articles by J. Oszytko) and to the Poles (in a book by Dermin and Popiołek) which were kept by the Gestapo in Opole. To summarize, the article casts light on the history of the city, with respect to, on the one hand, the rise of German totalitarianism changing into one-party domination of the NSDAP party, and – on the other hand – the scope of persecution of parties and persons standing in opposition to Hitler’s rule in our city and region.

Sąd Diecezji Opolskiej i kanoniści opolscy po drugiej wojnie światowej

Author(s): Piotr Sadowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4(1)/2018

This article presents the Opole Diocesan Court in the years 1951–2018 and Opole canonists in the years 1945–2018. It discusses the functions, structure, history and profiles of judicial vicars of the court, and gives summary information focusing on Opole canonists. Members of the Opole Diocesan Court are compared with Opole canonists because the both groups have often created or co-created the both of these realities. The article does not present any statistical information or names of trials taking place before the Opole Diocesan Court during the analyzed period, or possible trial costs. Furthermore, it does not analyze court judgements or individual reasons for declaring the nullity of a marriage solemnized at the Roman Catholic church. While determining the composition of the court is relatively easy, the concept of canon law study of Opole is a more complicated matter. A person related to the Opole Diocese area by birth, upbringing, residence or job is recognized by the author as an Opole canonist. However, the above-listed factors are not always cumulative. In many cases, someone who is considered to be an Opole canonist may also be identified as belonging to other scientific circles. In the past few decades, the Opole canonist community has been composed of graduates of numerous Polish and foreign academic centers, and, afterwards, such people dealt with various research areas. Their publications, professional, social and organizational activities, and their membership of different associations are the evidence of proper creativity. Even if the author does not discuss detailed scientific achievements of Opole canonists, the above summary presentation shows that these achievements are rather extensive.

The city of Fas and the University of al-Qarawiyyin: a common destiny

Author(s): Said Edaich / Language(s): English Issue: 4(1)/2018

Human history has always been linked to a spatial concept, a place that can be a state, a city, or any other geographical determination. The researches on Rome and Athens, Baghdad and Damascus provide ample information with a direct impact on understanding the evolution of human civilization. Fas, the Moorish city which initiated the Moroccan State, has always aroused the interest of historians and specialists. It is a unique social model and a city that has been able, thanks to its University Al-Qarawiyyin, to withstand all the harsh changes for centuries. This paper is intended to follow the evolution of this city through the expansion and historical dominance in North Africa and Europe throughout centuries. STRESZCZENIE: Historia ludzkości wiąże się z istnieniem koncepcji przestrzennych, miejsc będących państwami, miastami lub innymi formami organizacyjnymi. Badania nad Rzymem i Atenami, Bagdadem i Damaszkiem dostarczają obfitych informacji mających bezpośredni wpływ na zrozumienie ewolucji cywilizacji ludzkiej. Fas – miasto maurejskie, które zainicjowało marokańskie państwo, zawsze wzbudzało zainteresowanie historyków i specjalistów. Jest to unikalny model społeczny i miasto, dzięki któremu Uniwersytet Al-Qarawiyyin był w stanie przetrzymać wszelkie surowe zmiany. Niniejszy artykuł ma na celu śledzenie jego ewolucji, z uwzględnienim ekspansji i dominacji historycznej w Afryce Północnej i Europie na przestrzeni wieków.

550. rocznica powstania staropolskiego dwuizbowego sejmu

Author(s): Włodzimierz Kaczorowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4(1)/2018

Organizacja i funkcjonowanie wymiaru sprawiedliwości w starożytnym Rzymie

Author(s): Justyna Skwirowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2019

The legal standards for the Roman process have evolved considerably over the years. There are three types of the Roman legal processes: legislative (legislactio procedure), formulary procedure and cognitive (cognition extra ordinem); in some periods of time they overlapped with each other. The biggest differences were between the last two. In the Roman process, principles and legal institutions were developed that are present even in modern procedural law. It can be mentioned that, for example, the principle of a right to an appeal or the prohibition of issuing a decision extending beyond the claims of parties to the case. The aim of this study is to outline the evolution of the Roman trial proceedings and their impact on contemporary legal norms.

Kanonistyczne rękopisy z „Catalogus Manuscriptorum” Oksfordzkiego Kolegium Nowego z 1729 r. (New College Library Lc/10)

Author(s): Łukasz Jan Korporowicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 3/2019

During the times of the Reformation in England the teaching of canon law was officially prohibited. The needs of ecclesiastical justice, however, forced the lecturers of the Roman law – the only law taught at Oxford and Cambridge universities at the time – to insert canonical matters into their lectures. It is hard to evaluate how large that amalgamation was. Nonetheless, it is certain that the canon law survived the Reformation and flourished in changed circumstances. Besides the lectures, the knowledge of the canon law could be acquired by everyone who was linked with the universities thanks to the library resources that survived the Reformation. One of the most amazing collection of Catholic canon law manuscripts was stored in the library of New College, Oxford. The article presents the content of a catalogue of these manuscripts drawn up in 1729. Its expanded version was published in 1852. The comparative analysis of both catalogues allows us to determine the origins of these manuscripts. Moreover, it sheds light on the condition of canon law studies in the early eighteenth-century England.