The Principle of necessitas frangit legem in the Activity and Thought of Andrzej Maksymilian Fredro

Marek Tracz-Tryniecki

doi:10.17951/sil.2020.29.5.311-327

Abstract

The article presents the attitude of Andrzej Maksymilian Fredro – a key statesman and political writer in the 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – toward the principle of necessitas frangit legem. At the beginning, the intellectual sources of his understanding of this principle are discussed. Two groups are referenced: one referring to the Christian legal view on necessitas and the other connected with the question of the reason of state. Then four aspects of Fredro’s thought and political activity are analyzed. Firstly, his reference to necessitas treated as the justification of the amendment of the old law. Secondly, various examples of his flexible attitude toward law. All of them express Fredro’s opinion on the key role of prudence in the process of applying law. Thirdly, the question of the infringement of law is discussed by referring to his concept of the exception from law and his reaction to Siciński’s veto. Fourthly, it is pointed how in the context of the political conflict during the 1660s Fredro adopted a much stricter attitude toward observing the law. In the end, the conclusions state that Fredro’s case is a good example of the dilemma of Polish political thought and practice of how to combine effective governance with the respect for constitutional forms.

Highlights

M The article presents the attitude of Andrzej Maksymilian Fredro – a key statesman and political writer in the 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – toward the principle of necessitas frangit legem
Two groups are referenced: one referring to the Christian legal view on necessitas and the other connected with the question of the reason of state
Four aspects of Fredro’s thought and political activity are analyzed. His reference to necessitas treated as the justification of the amendment of the old law

Summary

SUMMARY

M The article presents the attitude of Andrzej Maksymilian Fredro – a key statesman and political writer in the 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – toward the principle of necessitas frangit legem. The question of the infringement of law is discussed by referring to his concept of the exception from law and his reaction to Siciński’s veto It is pointed how in the context of the political conflict during the 1660s Fredro adopted a much stricter attitude toward observing the law. Trying to detect the sources that shaped the way of understanding the principle necessitas frangit legem and which most likely influenced Fredro, we could point to two groups: the first one is connected with the Christian reflection on law while the. M drzej Maksymilian’s studies[4] Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae, in question 96, Article 6 discusses the problem: “Whether he who is under a law may act beside the letter of the law?”5. The assessment of what constitutes the good of a given community, and the decision to dispense from the letter

See European Political Thought 1450–1700

14. The Polish translation

A CHANGE IN FREDRO’S APPROACH