Wojskowa Temida: Dyscyplina i sądownictwo wojskowe w Koronie w dobie wojen tureckich w drugiej połowie XVII wieku

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to present the organization and functioning of military justice in the Polish Crown Army in the broadest possible military, political and legal context. It is also an attempt to answer the question what was the role that military judiciary played in the overall system of maintaining military discipline in the time of wars between the Polish­‑Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 17th century. The thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter presents a short historical overview of the development of military justice in the Commonwealth and other early modern European states, as well as the system of the sources of military law in the Crown of Poland in the second half of the 17th century. The second chapter shows political preconditions of the operation of military justice: the influence of the activity of the sejm and sejmiks on military discipline, law and judiciary. These issues were treated quite extensively in order to expose the social context of the functioning of courts­‑martial: social expectations of military justice system and often very critical opinions about its activity. Subsequent chapters describe organisation and functioning of individual courts­‑martial: the third chapter – lower courts­‑martial: company and regimental courts (sądy chorągiewne, sądy regimentowe) as well as artillery courts (sądy artyleryjskie, which like company and regimental courts were convened on an interim basis); the fourth chapter – higher courts­‑martial: general courts of domestic and foreign enlistment (wojskowy sąd generalny zaciągu narodowego, wojskowy sąd generalny zaciągu cudzoziemskiego); finally the fifth chapter – the hetman’s court (sąd hetmański) and hetman lieutenant’s courts (sądy regimentarskie). The sixth chapter is devoted to the jurdsdictional activity of the Fiscal Tribunal (Trybunał Skarbowy) and the Hiberna Commsision in regard to officers and soldiers. The whole dissertation ends with the summary and the appendix that includes exemplary documents related to the activity of Polish military justice in the second half of the 17th century.