Z prac nad unifikacją osobowego prawa małżeńskiego w 1945 roku

Abstract

The decree called the Marital Law, passed by Presidium of provisional parliament (Krajowa Rada Narodowa) on September 25th, 1945, was one of the 17 decrees which unified Polish civil law after World War II. It was constructed by the Ministry of Justice very quickly, within a few months. Such result was achieved, because the legislators could folIow the bills prepared by the pre-war Codification Commission. The decree acquired the institutions of the pre-war project, although there are important differences. First of all, the decree is based only on civil (not religious) construction of marriage. The institution of separation was also eliminated and divorces were accepted. You cannot find influences of Soviet law in the decree, but during works in the Ministry some Soviet ideas were considered and then rejected. The decree is an example of good level of legislation, basically because of following earlier projects. Important topic of future research should be connected with the influence of the new lay law on Catholic Polish society. The decree was replaced by new Family Code in 1950.