Opis

General History of the State and of Law

Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego

Autor: Tadeusz Maciejewski

 

The general history of the state and of law is no easy subject. It takes in many issues, quite a few of which continue to be subjects of research and of scholarly controversies. Another difficulty lies in the fact that a handbook on this subject must deal with a vast array of sources and an exceptionally rich literature from all over the world. In order to deal with these complexities, this book takes the form of a comparative-legal study. It considers the history of the state and of law in the most important European countries from the Middle Ages through the twentieth century. It discusses the most important changes and their consequences within the legal and state systems of individual countries, but also more broadly on the level of Europe and the world. It is addressed to English-speaking students of law both in Poland and abroad, and to other readers interested in the book’s subject.

 

 

Table of contents

From the Editor (Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . 11

Part I

General Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Chapter 1. Periodization in the history of state systems

(Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chapter 2. Periodization in the history of court law

(Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.1. General issues in medieval and early modern period law

(476 – to the mid-eighteenth century) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.1.1. Trends and features of medieval law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.1.2. Codification (the sixteenth

to the eighteenth centuries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2.2. The codification of law from the mid-eighteenth century.

Key principles of modern codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Chapter 3. The systematization of law (Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . 31

Chapter 4. Continuity and changes in legal culture . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.1. Roman law and its creative development

(Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.1.1. Leges Romanae barbarorum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4.1.2. The renaissance of Roman law in late medieval Italy . . . 36

4.1.2.1. The school of the glossators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4.1.2.2. The school of the commentators

(post-glossators) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4.1.3. The reception of Roman law

in the early modern period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

4.1.3.1. The German Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

4.1.3.2. France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

4.1.3.3. The spread of the influence of Roman law

in other European countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

4.1.3.4. Roman law in the modern age.

Usus modernus pandectarum . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

4.2. The most important legal doctrines of the eighteenth

and nineteenth centuries (Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . . . . . 42

4.2.1. Natural law – the ideological basis of codification . . . . . 42

4.2.2. Civil-law thought in the nineteenth

and twentieth centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4.2.2.1. Stages of development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4.2.2.2. The main trends of civil-law thought . . . . . . . . 44

4.2.2.2.1. The classical school of thought.

Statutory and scholarly positivism . . . 44

4.2.2.2.2. Legal naturalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

4.2.3. Criminal-law thought of the eighteenth

to the twentieth century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

4.2.3.1. Legal humanitarianism

in the eighteenth century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

4.2.3.2. The classical school in Germany

(early nineteenth century) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

4.2.3.3. Positivist thought (late nineteenth century) . . . . 55

4.3. The methodology of legal-history research

(Anna Klimaszewska) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

4.3.1. Comparative historical analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

4.3.2. Economic analysis of law in legal-historical studies . . . . 63

4.4. Jurisprudence (Anna Klimaszewska) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

4.4.1. The continental system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

4.4.2. The Anglo-Saxon system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Part II

A History of the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Chapter 1. Patrimonial monarchy

(476 CE to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

1.1. Concept and main features (Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . . . . 71

1.2. France (Michał Gałędek) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

1.3. The Holy Roman Empire (Maria Lewandowicz) . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

1.4. England (Dawid Michalski) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

1.5. Kievan Rus (Jacek Wałdoch) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Chapter 2. Estates monarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

2.1. Essence and main features (Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . . . . 84

2.1.1. The construction of the crown of the kingdom . . . . . . . 84

2.1.2. Estate society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

2.1.3. Estate assemblies – state-wide and local . . . . . . . . . . . 88

2.2. France (Michał Gałędek) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

2.3. The Holy Roman Empire (Maria Lewandowicz) . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

2.4. England (Dawid Michalski) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

2.5. Russia (Jacek Wałdoch) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Chapter 3. Absolute and post-absolute monarchies

(sixteenth to nineteenth centuries) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

3.1. The theoretical basis of absolute monarchy: Renaissance,

classic, and Enlightenment (Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . . . 105

3.2. Classic absolute monarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

3.2.1. France (Michał Gałędek) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

3.2.2. England (Dawid Michalski) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

3.3. Enlightenment absolutism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

3.3.1. Prussia (Maria Lewandowicz) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

3.3.2. Austria (Maria Lewandowicz) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

3.3.3. Russia (Jacek Wałdoch) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

3.4. Post-absolute systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

3.4.1. Austria (Maria Lewandowicz) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

3.4.2. Prussia (Maria Lewandowicz) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

3.4.3. Russia (Jacek Wałdoch) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Chapter 4. Constitutional states (up to 1939) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

4.1. Constitutional thought (Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . . . . . . 123

4.1.1. The concept of the constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

4.1.2. Establishment of a constitution and change

to a constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

4.1.3. The structure and systematics of constitutions . . . . . . 125

4.1.4. The content of a constitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

4.1.5. Constitutional states. Criteria for divisions . . . . . . . . . 127

4.1.6. The construction of a state governed

by the rule of law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

4.2. Monarchies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

4.2.1. Liberal-democratic monarchies (Dawid Michalski) . . . . 129

4.2.2. Limited Monarchy (1789–1792) (Dawid Michalski) . . . . 140

4.2.3. Conservative monarchies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

4.2.3.1. France (Michał Gałędek) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

4.2.3.2. Germany and Austria-Hungary

(Maria Lewandowicz) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

4.2.3.3. Russia (Jacek Wałdoch) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

4.3. Republics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

4.3.1. The U.S.A. (Marcin Michalak) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

4.3.2. France (Michał Gałędek) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

4.3.3. The Weimar Republic (Maria Lewandowicz) . . . . . . . . 173

4.4. Authoritarian states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

4.4.1. The concept of authoritarianism (Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . 175

4.4.2. France (Michał Gałędek) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

4.5. Totalitarian states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

4.5.1. Italian and German totalitarianism. Fascism

(Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

4.5.1.1. The Third Reich (Maria Lewandowicz) . . . . . . . 182

4.5.2. Bolshevik totalitarianism. Stalinism

(Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

4.5.2.1. The U.S.S.R. (Jacek Wałdoch) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Part III

A History of Judicial Lawmaking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Chapter 1. Sources and institutions

until the end of the eighteenth century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

1.1. The concept of the sources of law (Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . 189

1.2. Sources of medieval and early modern law

(Tadeusz Maciejewski, Piotr Kitowski) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

1.3. Institutions (Tadeusz Maciejewski, Piotr Kitowski) . . . . . . . . . 197

1.3.1. Substantive civil law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

1.3.1.1. The law of persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

1.3.1.2. Marriage, family,

and custody/guardianship law . . . . . . . . . . . 201

1.3.1.3. Inheritance law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

1.3.1.4. Property law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

1.3.1.5. Law of obligations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

1.3.2. Substantive criminal law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

1.3.2.1. Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

1.3.2.2. Criminal liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

1.3.2.3. Complicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

1.3.2.4. Punishment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

1.3.3. Trial law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

1.3.3.1. Ordinary (medieval) procedure . . . . . . . . . . . 225

1.3.3.2. Criminal procedure (inquisitorial proceedings) . . 228

1.3.3.3. Civil proceedings

(Roman-canonical procedure) . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Chapter 2. Codified law

(from the end of the eighteenth century) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

2.1. Sources. Codes and the Anglo-Saxon system

(Anna Klimaszewska) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

2.1.1. Civil substantive law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

2.1.1.1. The Prussian Landrecht (ALR) . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

2.1.1.2. The Napoleonic Code (Code Napoléon) . . . . . . 236

2.1.1.3. The Austrian Civil Code (ABGB) . . . . . . . . . . . 237

2.1.1.4. The Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire

(Сводъ законовъ Россiйской имперiи) . . . . . . 239

2.1.1.5. The German Civil Code (BGB) . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

2.1.1.6. The Swiss Civil Code (ZGB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

2.1.1.7. Sources of private law in England . . . . . . . . . 243

2.1.2. Commercial law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

2.1.2.1. Code de commerce (1807) (Commercial Code) . 244

2.1.2.2. German codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

2.1.2.3. The Swiss Code of Obligations (1911/1936) . . . 247

2.1.3. Substantive criminal law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

2.1.3.1. The codification of criminal law in France . . . . 248

2.1.3.2. Austrian criminal codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

2.1.3.3. Criminal codes of the German states

and of the Second German Empire . . . . . . . . 254

2.1.3.4. Russian Criminal Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

2.1.3.5. Sources of criminal law in England . . . . . . . . 257

2.1.4. Trial law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

2.1.4.1. Civil procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

2.1.4.1.1. The outdated model . . . . . . . . . . . 258

2.1.4.1.2. The modern model . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

2.1.4.2. Criminal procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

2.1.4.2.1. The outdated model . . . . . . . . . . . 262

2.1.4.2.2. The modern model . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

2.2. Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

2.2.1. Civil law (Maja Maciejewska-Szałas) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

2.2.1.1. Marriage law – persons and property . . . . . . . 264

2.2.1.2. Personal law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

2.2.1.3. Family law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

2.2.1.4. Property law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

2.2.1.5. Inheritance law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

2.2.1.6. Contract law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

2.2.2. Substantive criminal law (Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . 281

2.2.2.1. Crime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

2.2.2.2. Liability. The subjective aspect of crime. Guilt . 284

2.2.2.3. Scholarship relating to punishment . . . . . . . . 286

2.2.2.4. The system of punishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

2.2.2.4.1. The death penalty . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

2.2.2.4.2. Corporal punishment . . . . . . . . . . 288

2.2.2.4.3. The penalty of deprivation of liberty . 288

2.2.2.4.4. Punishments relating to

property/pecuniary penalties . . . . . 290

2.2.2.4.5. Loss of rights

and honor punishments . . . . . . . . . 290

2.2.2.4.6. Security measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

2.2.3. Trial law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

2.2.3.1. Civil trial (Maja Maciejewska-Szałas) . . . . . . . . 292

2.2.3.2. Criminal trial (Tadeusz Maciejewski) . . . . . . . . 293

Selected Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297