Prawa antyczne w piśmiennictwie polskim w latach 1900-1945

Abstract

During the last dozen or so years, M. Zabłocka has published works on the achievements of Polish researchers in the field of ancient laws, especially the Roman law. It should be added that the achievements of Roman law studies in Poland in the 19th century were presented by J. Kodrębski, Prawo rzymskie w Polsce XIX wieku, Łódź 1990. However, the literature lacked a complete list of works written in the years 1900-1945. This period can be divided into three sub-periods: 1) the years 1900-1918, until Poland regained its independence; 2) the years 1918-1939, until the outbreak of World War II; 3) the years 1939-1945, until the end of the war. Each of them was characterized by different political, economic, and social conditions. In the first sub-period, Polish scientists were active in only a few academic centers. A number of important issues in the conduct of research and scientific development were influenced by the policies pursued by the governments of the three partitioning powers. There are clear differences in this regard. What is also characteristic of the 1900-1918 sub-period is the very strong connection of Polish scientists with German science and its influence on the nature of research. Many important changes occurred in the interwar sub-period, which undoubtedly can be considered as the most fruitful period of development of Polish studies of ancient laws in the period analyzed in this publication. The years 1918- 1939 witnessed the largest number of academic centers, with a wide range of specialists studying various legal issues of the ancient world. Liberated from the shackles imposed by the partitioning powers, Poland tried to create the best possible conditions for science. This brought tangible results in the form of a significant number of works. A number of them, thanks to cooperation with many foreign universities and their academic staff, were published in their renowned journals, encyclopedias, and commemorative books. Of note is the fact that Polish scientists maintained particularly close scientific contacts with Italian researchers. Several of them (Pietro Bonfante, Salvatore Riccobono, Pietro De Francisci), even received honoris causa doctorates from Polish universities. The last sub-period, the years of World War II, was fundamentally different from the others. At that time, the fewest publications appeared, which is absolutely not surprising. Many of them were prepared before the outbreak of the war. Fairly normal scientific activity was conducted only by those scientists who managed to escape from the occupied Poland. Ancient laws were studied by scientists working at universities, including lawyers, historians, classical philologists, and canonists. It should be emphasized that authors of publications in that sub-period included people unrelated to universities who were employed in secondary education or practiced as advocates, notaries, or judges. Works by Polish researchers were published in various forms: monographs, dissertations, papers in scientific journals and commemorative books, encyclopedic entries, reviews, and bibliographic notes. Many of them were published by publishers with recognized position in the scientific world. Some, however, were popular science works, intended for a much wider audience. Works by Polish authors, as well as reviews and bibliographic notes to them, were published in over 250 scientific journals in various languages. A vast majority of the publications were written in Polish. Also, numerous works in German, French, Italian, and Latin were published. Much fewer works were published in English, Russian, Czech, Spanish, and Hebrew. The most prolific authors, working on various legal issues of the ancient world, were: Rafał Taubenschlag, Adolf Berger, Mojżesz Schorr, Franciszek Bossowski, and Ignacy Koschembahr-Łyskowski. The subject enjoying the greatest interest of researchers was Roman law and, within it, issues concerning the history of sources, law of property, law of obligations, and public law. Much attention was also paid to the influence of Roman law on the shape of modern legal institutions. The number of translations of source texts in that sub-period is surprisingly low. In the years 1900-1945, there was not a single comprehensive translation of an important legal monument of ancient Rome, such as the Law of the Twelve Tables. There was also no Polish translation of works written during the Justinian’s codification (Institutiones, Digesta, Codex). Only works containing translations of parts of various laws were published, most often without any professional commentary. They were usually intended for secondary school students. However, it should be emphasized that Polish translations of sources of fundamental importance to the knowledge of the law in force in Babylonia and Assyria were published at that time. When summarizing the achievements of Polish researchers in the field of ancient laws in the years 1900-1945, it should be stated that they constitute a significant contribution to the history of both Polish and world science. Many of those publications are even today the basic literature for scholars working on particular issues and many Polish authors are considered as outstanding experts in the field of ancient laws. The outbreak of World War II hindered to a great extent the development of research conducted by Polish scientists. Many of them died during the war and many of the publications that had been prepared for printing were lost forever.