Protokoły posiedzeń Wydziału Profesorów i Doktorów Prawa Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego (1817–1833)

Abstract

The present volume includes the records of meetings of the Faculty of Professors and Doctors of Law of the Jagiellonian University in the years 1817–1833 and is devoted entirely to the examination of appeals against unanimous judgments of a court of first instance and the Court of Appeal. Based on Article 15 of the Constitution of the Free City of Cracow of 1815, the Faculty of Professors and Doctors of Law examined the admissibility of lodging an appeal to the Court of Third (Last) Instance against two unanimous judgments of the Court of Peace or the Tribunal of First Instance and the Court of Appeal. This was possible in civil cases, and de facto also in criminal cases, when the Faculty found that the adjudicating courts had violated the provisions of substantive law or civil procedure. It is worth noting that the reviewing by the Faculty of the application of civil law by courts was an original solution, unprecedented in other legal orders. This is because it combined the old German procedure of sending the files of a court case to a law faculty in order to make a ruling, i.e. the so-called Aktenversendung, with the institution of French cassation. The source material on which the volume is based includes the well-preserved records of meetings of the Faculty of Professors and Doctors of Law of the Jagiellonian University, kept in the Jagiellonian University Archives, as well as court records in the collection of the National Archives in Cracow (”Archives of the Free City of Cracow”). The present publication is a result of research conducted at the Faculty of Law of the Jagiellonian University and co-financed by the National Science Center, which focused on the application of the provisions of the Napoleonic Code (Code civil) by the courts of the Free City of Cracow. The study established that out of nearly 1,000 legal opinions issued by the Faculty Professors and Doctors of Law of the Jagiellonian University, almost 80% concerned Cracow courts’ application of substantive civil law, in which the dominant position was held by the provisions of the law of obligations, and then of property law (especially mortgage law) and inheritance law (matters regarding matrimonial law clearly played a lesser role). The present collection of opinions issued by the Faculty of Professors and Doctors of Law of the Jagiellonian University is an invaluable source for research on the history of application of the Napoleonic Code in Poland in the first half of the 19th century. The use of the collection will be facilitated by the scholarly apparatus including biographical information on the professors of the Faculty, as well as participants in court proceedings whose course and results were subject to evaluation by the Faculty of Professors and Doctors of Law of the Jagiellonian University.