Verbrechen von Jakub Trembski Aus der Forschung im Strafprozess in den Städten im damaligen Polen

Procedura sądowa stosowana w miastach polskich doby przedrozbiorowej jest nam znana tylko fragmentarycznie, przy czym podstawowym źródłem naszej wiedzy jest w tym wypadku dawna literatura prawnicza. Nie bez powodu wskazuje się zatem na konieczność gruntownego zbadania praktyki wymiaru sprawiedliwości w tej dziedzinie1.[...

Adam Żydowski’s Remarks on the Competence of Lay and Ecclesiastical Courts in Witchcraft Cases

Witchcraft cases in Poland (before partitions) have been examined by historians since olden times. Among the issues discussed in this matter there was the Act of the Polish Sejm of 1543, according to which witchcraft cases should be in the competence of ecclesiastical courts. Researchers have been interpreting the meaning of this Act in a very different way. According to one group, the Act excluded the competence of lay courts in witchcraft cases totally. Another group claimed that the lay court could examine a case if there was evidence of damage caused by a witch. In practice these cases were examined by the lay courts (especially town courts). It has been pointed out recently that the 1543 Act was only supposed to remain in force for one year, so there was no legal ground to undermine the competence of lay courts in witchcraft cases. It seems that one cannot agree with such a simple solution. Research on practice of the old courts and the works of the 17th century lawyer Adam Żydowski, presents a viewpoint contrary to this. Żydowski, among other issues, discusses the competence of lay and ecclesiastical courts in witchcraft cases and illustrates their respective abilities. The author himself - according to his concept of research - does not present clear opinion. Notwithstanding, his work reveals that the 1543 Act was included in 17th century treatises as still being in power. Probably the clause which limited the act to only one year had been forgotten

„Stosując się do prawa wyraźnego...”. Podstawy prawne wyroków kryminalnych grodziskiego sądu miejskiego w latach 1702–1756

In Poland, until the partitions in the eighteenth century, law had the nature of state law. A separate system was the law of the medieval city of Magdeburg that is enriched by numerous later sources. Under consideration are the judgments issued by a court in the city Grodzisk between 1702–1756. Unlike the municipal courts of the area of Malopolska, this court deciding criminal cases very often (almost every case) referred to the applicable law. The law was widely understood.Rarely it has been used from the main sources of Magdeburg law, there was gladly seen the usage of works of the Polish lewyers by Bartłomiej Groicki and Mikołaj Zalaszowski and (mostly) foreign,lawyers – for example, the work of Benedykt Carpzov and Jodok Damhouder. It is not known whether such frequent recourse to legal literature was quite exceptional, or practice like that was in othercities of Wielkopolska. The answer should be brought by further study.Brak abstraktu w języku polski

Sądownictwo w miastach prywatnych w Polsce XVI-XVIII wieku : problem odrębności postępowania w sprawach kryminalnych

The paper presents the systemic and legal disparities of private towns. Most emphasis is placed on the differences of criminal proceedings in royal and private townsand on determining whether these disparities were signifi cant enough for the criminal process in private towns to be considered a separate manner of criminal proceeding. In case of the former, the municipal judiciary was often subject to interventions from starosts or other “third-party” entities. A characteristic feature of the legal system of private towns, on the other hand, was the infl uence of their owners on the municipal judiciary and their participation in each stage of criminal proceedings. The paper also discusses the extent to which the owners interfered with the operation of the municipal legal system

Prawo w cudzych krajach w roku 1595 oczyma Anonima widziane

"W 1925 r. Jan Czubek wydał zachowany w postaci niezbyt starannej kopii fragment diariusza podróży nieznanego z imienia i nazwiska polskiego szlachcica, który w latach dziewięćdziesiątych XVI w. zdołał przewędrować znaczną część Europy. Był na Węgrzech, w Niemczech, Niderlandach, we Włoszech, na Malcie, w Hiszpanii i Portugalii, a być może również we Francji. Z diariusza tej peregrynacji, opracowanego ostatecznie już po powrocie do kraju, jednak na podstawie sporządzanych na bieżąco notatek, przetrwał do naszych czasów tylko fragment obejmujący część podróży po Włoszech, dwie wycieczki na Maltę, przeprawę morzem do Hiszpanii (z postojami w Genui, Nicei i na Balearach), wreszcie wędrówkę przez Półwysep Pirenejski. Wiemy, że podróżnik zamierzał poprzez Portugalię dotrzeć do Santiago de Compostela, ale poznajemy tylko jego podróż do Lizbony, na opisie tego miasta bowiem zapiski się urywają." [...] (fragm.

Kilka uwag o krytycznym wydaniu dzieł prawniczych Pawła Szczerbica

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Do trzech razy sztuka, czyli koniec zbójeckiego żywota Mikołaja Puchalskiego

In autumn 1716 Cracow witnessed the great trial of a chieftain of Beskid robbers, nobleman Antoni Złotkowski and his companions. One of the accused was Mikołaj Puchalski, who had been arrested together with Złotkowski. In the Cracow trial his participation in robberies was not proved and he could not be sentenced. We also know that this was not the only attempt to bring him to justice. Probably, he had been arrested earlier and detained in the castle prison in Nowy Wiśnicz, but also then there was not enough evidence against him. For the third time Puchalski stood trial in April 1717. It was again the criminal court of the city of Nowy Wiśnicz. This time his participation in several robberies was proved (mainly on the basis of his own testimony) and he was sentenced to beheading and corpse quartering. The materials collected during this last trial allow us to assume that earlier detentions of Puchalski were not groundless. Even if he did not actively participate in robberies, it is likely that he had at that time connections with the criminal world. It turns out that judges who then decided about his fate did not draw hasty conclusions and were fully aware of the necessity to prove the defendant guilty

„Zaprzysięganie na śmierć” w praktyce sądu miejskiego z Krzemieńca w XVIII w.

Before Poland was partitioned, there had been different laws for each group of society. Gentry, townspeople and peasants had their own laws. In the gentry law (land law) there was a rule that the accused could not be sentenced to death if the private accuser with several other people did not swear that the accused deserves death penalty. The practice of such a swearing existed until 1768. Current researches indicated the lack of such a rule in a municipal law. However, in the city of Krzemieniec in Wołyń the practice was different. Local municipal court required the oath of a claimant in most criminal cases. It is possible to suppose that it was an example of imitating the land law by the municipal law. We do not know if it was an only example of such a practice or whether there were similar situations in other cities of eastern Republic of Poland. This problem requires further researches.W Polsce do czasów rozbiorów panowała stanowość prawa. Odrębnym prawem posługiwała się między innymi szlachta, mieszczanie, chłopi. W prawie szlacheckim (ziemskim) istniał zwyczaj, zgodnie z którym oskarżony nie mógł zostać skazany na karę śmierci, o ile wcześniej prywatny oskarżyciel wraz z kilkoma innymi osobami nie złożył przysięgi, iż podsądny na taką karę zasłużył. Składanie takiej przysięgi przetrwało aż do 1768 r. Dotychczasowe badania wskazywały na brak takiego zwyczaju w prawie miejskim. Okazuje się jednak, że w leżącym na Wołyniu Krzemieńcu w połowie XVIII w. tamtejszy sąd miejski w większości spraw karnych uzależniał skazanie oskarżonego na śmierć albo wykonanie skazującego na tę karę wyroku od przysięgi strony powodowej. Należy przypuszczać, że naśladowano w tym wypadku rozwiązania przyjęte w prawie ziemskim (szlacheckim). Nie wiadomo jednak, czy mamy do czynienia z wyjątkowym przypadkiem czy też podobnie postępowano w innych miastach na Kresach wschodnich dawnej Rzeczypospolitej. Zagadnienie to wymaga dalszych badań