CONSTITUTIONAL-LEGAL STATUS OF PARLIAMENT OF THE SECOND POLISH REPUBLIC (1918-1939)

Abstract

Constitutional acts of the Second Polish Republic of 1918, 1921 and 1935 have been researched in the present article. Legal status of the Parliament of Poland in 1918-1939, authorities of certain chambers has been clarified. Authorities of the Parliament as to formation of executive and judicial branches of government have been analyzed. The author draws attention to practical value of the research of historical legal experience of Polish public officials in the Second Polish Republic since main tasks of constitutional process were to restore stability in the country by changing the Constitution, overcoming political crisis, strengthening state authority etc. Nowadays these tasks are relevant to Ukraine. The following documents have been analyzed in the present article: Regent Council Decree of 11 th November 1918 under which Jozef Pilsudski came to power, major constitutional documents issued by the first President of Polish Republic, the decree of 22 nd November 1918 on supreme representative authority of the Polish Republic (Constituent Seym) and decree of 28 th November 1918 which affirmed electoral ordination to the Polish Constituent Seym. The first session of a newly-elected parliament was held on 10 th February 1919. One of the key issues of the agenda was adoption of a new constitution of the Polish Republic and for this purpose on 14 th February 1919 the Constitutional Committee was established. Since work on such project required time, it was decided to adopt a temporary constitutional act – Constituent Seym resolution of 20 th February 1919 (so called Small Constitution). Parliament was acknowledged to be sovereign and legislative one-chambered authority in Polish commonwealth. Period of its functioning was not determined and it was functioning from February 1919 till the end of November 1922. During this period Seym deputies held 342 plenary meetings and adopted 342 laws. The most significant result of the Second Polish Republic First Parliament was the adoption of a new Constitution on 17 th March 1921. According to the Constitution 1921, Parliament consisting of Seym and Senate (article 2) was recognized to be the only legislative authority. Seym was made up of 444 deputies, and Senate – 111 senators. It was forbidden to hold more than one office – deputy or senator. The author has analyzed disposition of the Constitution and attracted our attention to the fact that certain norms were borrowed from Austrian Constitution 1867 (Constitutional Law about changing the law of 26 th February 1861 on imperial representation of 21 st December 1867). In 1925-1926 Poland was in great difficulties – economic crisis, inflation, high level of unemployment led to dissatisfaction among vast majority of population. Along with economic problems, a lot of political troubles appeared – political forces in the Parliament were in confrontation to each other and could not come to an agreement, governments were changed very often, social issues were not resolved. Parliamentary form of government led to disappointment and discontent. As a result, Parliament powers were restrained. At first, changes in the Constitution were introduced in 1926, but they were just the first step towards restriction of Parliament powers. The next step was the adoption of new Constitution in 1934 by the Parliament and its signing on 23 rd April 1935 by President of Poland I. Moscicki. This Constitution expanded powers of executive authority and restricted citizens’ opportunity to take part in state-building procedures. Summing up, the author remarks that the Constitution 1921 determined Poland to be a parliamentary monarchy and created considerable preconditions for developing parliamentarism. This Constitution contained vital dispositions which consolidated allocation of powers and can be helpful in reforming the valid Constitution of Ukraine. Taking this into consideration, special interest is aroused by such things as disposition about the right to hold more than one office (post of a deputy and minister), restriction of deputy’s inviolability, Parliament powers when a president is not able to execute his powers etc. Since 1926 a new Constitutional reform, which expanded president’s powers and strengthened executive authority, has been carried out. President and government received even more powers owing to the adoption of the Constitution in 1935. The author assumes that the Second Polish Republic had a chance to be gradually turned from parliamentary to presidential. These political changes had a negative impact on a political state of the country, weakened it significantly and created precondition for external aggression. In 1939, in consequence of conclusion of Soviet-German Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Poland once again lost its independence.