Wincentego Skrzetuskiego mowa Przeciwko Kroloboystwu

Abstract

Wincenty Skrzetuski, a member of the SchP convent, was an outstanding educationist, historian, lawyer and political writer. In Mowy o główniejszych materiach politycznych, issued in 1773 and in a handbook published from 1782–1784 Prawo polityczne narodu Polskiego, he discussed the problem of prevention of the King’s authority. He discussed the issue in the context of the attempted abduction of King Stanisław August Poniatowski in 1771. His reflections indicate that he was mostly following older views on the crime of regicide and contrary to humanitarian ideas he argued on using the death penalty against all, with no exception, who took part in regicide. Skrzetuski mentioned the fact of not very wide competences of the elective Polish king, but he didn’t follow the Enlightment’s concept of the King’s power. Thus he followed the Catholic concept of the monarch’s power. He justified the full ban of regicide by rational reasons, as well as the reasons coming from the law of nature and from political rules.