"Legal Sources in the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania" is a course designed to introduce selected issues in the history of medieval and early modern legal and historical sources. The main issues concern the sources of land law, urban law, rural law and the legal culture and influence of Roman law on law in the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Both normative sources as well as legal practice-oriented and doctrinal sources are presented.
Available also on the Copernicus College (versions in Polish / English)
Lecture 1: Formula processus (1523) (code of court procedure, by Kacper Górski)
The Formula processus of 1523 was a foundational statute governing proceedings in the land law courts of the early modern Kingdom of Poland. This lecture first examines the origins of this act within the broader context of unification and codification efforts in late medieval and early modern Poland. It then analyzes the structure of the Formula processus. Finally, it addresses whether the attempt achieved its intended objectives, namely statewide unification, codification, and the simplification and acceleration of court procedures observed in the land law courts.
Lecture 2: Statuta civitatum (municipal legislation in Polish cities and towns, by Maciej Mikuła)
The aim of the lecture is to introduce an important source of law in Polish cities, which was the municipal statutes. They modified and supplemented the Magdeburg Law, which was the model for the founding of towns in Central and Eastern Europe. The lecture shows, among other things, the phenomenon of borrowing statutes between cities.
The lecture provides basic information on legal works of the 16th century on municipal law. It aims to provide guidance in the use of legal literature: translations of the Saxon Mirror and the Magdeburg Weichbild into Latin (Mikołaj Jaskier) and Polish (Paweł Szczerbic); monographs on specific legal issues (Jan Cerasinus Kiersen, Jan Aichler); Latin textbooks (Jan Cervus Tucholczyk) and Polish textbooks (Bartłomiej Groicki).
(Influences of Roman legal thoughts on the inheritance law content in the First Lithuanian Statute, followed by the general description of political, historical and legal background relations between Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania)
(Influences of Roman legal thoughts on the inheritance law content in the First Lithuanian Statute, followed by the general description of political, historical and legal background relations between Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, with more detailed content on the inheritance law regulations and their Roman-Byzantine sources)
Lecture 6: Roman law in the "Collection of court laws" by Andrzej Zamoyski 1776 (by Łukasz Marzec)
(The history of the excellent draft of the codification of law by chancellor Zamoyski. Would-be revolutionary legal changes were strongly based on Roman legal concepts, but due to political reality rejected by the Polish Parliament. The draft called "Collection of court laws" was strongly fought against by the Catholic Church)
(The history and Roman law base of the very first complete codification of the medieval Polish law, by king Casimir the Great, founder of the Jagiellonian University. Many institutions of Roman law were borrowed and adopted in this codification, with the intention to improve legal culture in the reunited medieval Polish state)
(Influences of Roman legal thoughts on the inheritance law content in all three Lithuanian Statutes, followed by the general description of political, historical and legal background relations between Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, with a comparative perspective of internal differences of both legal systems)
(Influences of Roman legal thoughts on the inheritance law content in all three Lithuanian Statutes, followed by the general description of political, historical and legal background relations between Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, with a comparative perspective of internal differences of both legal systems, with more detailed description of Pedro Ruiz de Moros contribution to the formation of the 2nd Statute and Roman law borrowings and references)
Lecture 10: Documentation of the Foundation of Villages (by Krzysztof Fokt) [Rural Law, part 1]
In the lecture, the process of foundation of a village in high Middle Ages was presented and particular stages of it were referred to. The cases studies chosen for the lecture are from Silesia which was a birthplace of the model of rural colonisation which spread further to other regions of East-Central Europe. The topic is being followed through analysis of subsequent charters.
Lecture 11: Village Statutes, part 1 (by Krzysztof Fokt) [Rural Law, part 2]
The lecture concerns the definition & characteristics of rural normative sources, and the differences between the statutes issued by communities & domanial legislation bequathed to the villages. The European background of rural statutory sources & practical problems concerning formal & functional classifications of this kind of legislation were referred to, as well.
Lecture 12: Village Statutes, part 2 (by Krzysztof Fokt) [Rural Law, part 3]
The subject of the lecture are rural statutes of communitarian character & their evolution towards the model of legislation dominated by the landlords. This process was shown on examples from different parts of Kingdom of Poland: Major Poland/Wielkopolska (the oldest known community resolution from Krzemieniewo, 1412), Royal Prussia (the village Pruszcz by Gdańsk: resolution from 1485) and Lesser Poland/Małopolska (Statute for Krzyżanowice from 1504).
Lecture 13: Village Statutes, part 3 (by Krzysztof Fokt) [Rural Law, part 4]
In the last lecture concerning rural statutory sources, there are the beginnings of the manorial legislation commented on several examples from various regions of Poland, and representing various normative & topographic models of villages, beginning with the statute from Wielkopolska issued in 1514, and followed by the statutes for Sułoszowa (1565) & Węgrzce (1570). In the lecture, co-existence of various normative & social structures was stressed, which created a general landscape of legal diversity being, however, unified by common needs & traits.
Lecture 14: Village Court Books, part 1 (by Krzysztof Fokt) [Rural Law, part 5]
The lecture aims at presenting the village court books as a source & the motives that laid behind them being run for centuries in many domains. The case studies were taken from Kraków & Sandomierz lands of the former Kingdom of Poland, and concern located villages where emphyteutic model of land tenure was practiced. In the lecture, general idea & most important purposes for creating village court books were presented & commented on with the use of particular entries from the sources.
Lecture 15: Village Court Books, part 2 (by Krzysztof Fokt) [Rural Law, part 6]
Ther lecture continues some threads of reasoning that began in the preceding lecture (no. 14). However, this time less typical cases & entries from village books of court records were mentioned & commented, including a penal case from the book of Sułoszowa, which gave attempt to introduce some general concepts of criminal procedure of late medieval & early modern periods.
Lecture 16: Honey hunting law in medieval and early modern Poland (by Kacper Górski)
The honey-hunting law (prawo bartne in Polish) can be understood as a legal framework regulating relations among honey hunters (tree beekeepers) and between honey hunters and domanial lords, as well as safeguarding the rights of honey hunters. This lecture attempts to categorize honey-hunting law, followed by examples of such norms in the land law. Moreover, it draws attention to the specific laws governing local honey-hunting communities. Finally, it provides an overview of the primary sources.
