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1944 erlies die neue „Volksregierung“ in Polen ein Dekret zur Durchfuh- rung der Agrarreform. Die Ubernahme von Landgutern versties oft gegen die Bestimmungen dieses Rechtsakts. Nach Stalins Tod begannen die rechtswidrig enteigneten Personen im Zuge des politischen „Tauwetters“ nach der Ruckgabe ihres Landgutes zu verlangen. Das verabschie- dete Gesetz von 1958 hob diese Versuche auf und legalisierte alle auch rechtswidrigen Landgu- tenteignungen durch den Staat. Die Umstande des Inkrafttretens des Gesetzes zeigen deutlich, dass sein Zweck darin bestand, den Grundbesitzern letztendlich das Recht auf alle Anspruche an den Staat zu entziehen. Bis heute blockiert dieses Gesetz die Versuche, solche Landguter zu reprivatisieren, die auf Grund des Dekrets zur Agrarreform rechtswidrig ubernommen wurden.

O prawie i doktrynach politycznoprawnych Związku Radzieckiego

W artykule omowiono trudności, jakie powstaly w związku z wprowadzeniem świeckich urzedow stanu cywilnego w Polsce po II wojnie światowej. W 1945 roku zostal wydany dekret Prawo o aktach stanu cywilnego. Mial on duze znaczenie dla sukcesu akcji unifikacji prawa cywilnego, ktora byla wowczas przeprowadzana. Przewazająca cześc spoleczenstwa polskiego nie znala świeckiego systemu rejestracji aktow stanu cywilnego, stosując sie do wyznaniowego systemu rejestracji w katolickich ksiegach i metrykach kościelnych. Skutkiem tego w 1946 roku mniej niz polowa urodzin, malzenstw i zgonow byla rejestrowana w świeckich urzedach stanu cywilnego. Nowy rząd komunistyczny stanąl przed dylematem: czy stosowac metody utylitarne, czy sankcjami zmusic spoleczenstwo do dostosowania sie do nowych przepisow. Pierwsza metoda okazala sie skuteczniejsza.

The Russo-Japanese War, fought between 1904 and 1905, started a period of wars in the 20th century. As a result of the First World War, as many as four empires collapsed and, at the same time, revolutions took place in at least three of them; namely in Russia, German Reich, and the Ottoman Empire while the Hapsburg Empire was affected by the revolution only to a certain extent. As a matter of fact, the First World War did not finish on the 11th of November 1918. Russia – both “white” and “red” – and Turkey resumed their military conflict after the 11th of November 1918. The war ended in March 1921. The so-called Treaty of Versailles which brought an end to World War I constituted an explosive growth of international public law. Its main aim was to preserve international peace and safety; however, it was unsuccessful in this respect. Moreover, the idea of self-determination theoretically gained great importance. New states appeared on the map in Central and Eastern Europe – specifically between Germany and Russia – which did not exist before 1914. And so the end of World War I had to result in the expansion of the reach of democracy. Furthermore, after the Second World War, the principle of international responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide (Latin genocidium) was partially realized. Nevertheless, it did not pertain to the USSR, which was one of the victors. The first half of the 20th century can be called an era of revolution. The revolutions created the most criminal and genocidal totalitarian systems in the history of mankind. The bond between the totalitarian countries and the civilized world was broken, among others, in regard to law. For example, after the First World War, there was enormous development in labour law which veered towards positive changes for workers. On the other hand, it was common in the totalitarian systems to use slave labour and it was done on a large scale. The end of both world wars in the 20th century resulted in political changes and, consequently, also in changes in the area of criminal law and civil law. The emergence of new states after World War I also led to the process of law codification. Furthermore, this process also took place after the Second War when the states of the so-called Soviet Bloc created their own codes based on Soviet models. As a result of both wars, numerous problems arose which were connected with, for example, war reparations, compensation, territorial changes, justification of ownership transformation, family law as well as marriage law institutions, and others. The Cold War – a confrontation between the communist system and the liberal western system – essentially began together with the beginning of the communist system already in 1917. It only acquired a new dynamic after the Second World War. The Cold War soon spread throughout Asia, Latin America and the Third World countries. The USSR lost the Cold War and in consequence it brought freedom to numerous enslaved countries and nations. Naturally, independence meant new forms of government which were followed by the creation of civil and criminal law systems.

In 1955 the first official visit of Soviet lawyers to Poland took place. It is somehow strange that it took place so late, when the process of Sovietization of Polish law was already very advanced. The chairman of the delegation was Professor D. S. Kariew, who was also a high ranked official of the Soviet Ministry of Justice. The document presented below is the minutes of the last meeting of the delegation with Polish Minister of Justice, Henryk Świątkowski. The Soviet delegation was suggesting to implement many Soviet regulations into Polish law. Among them were: the election of judges (complete fiction) and abolishing the self-government of advocates. They were also pressing on increasing the Ministry’s supervision over judges. At the time the Polish party seemed to accept these proposals but in the event none were implemented into Polish law. This was so because of political changes in Poland in 1956, when Stalin’s period in Polish history ended. The process of reception of Soviet law in Poland then stopped, but not completely.

DOKUMENT - 1948 grudzien 11, Warszawa – uchwala Rady Ministrow RP o trybie uzgadniania i uchwalania projektow ustaw, dekretow i rozporządzen

DOKUMENT NR 1 - 1944 [wrzesien?], [Lublin] – Statut Komisji Prawniczej, dzialającej przy Resorcie Sprawiedliwości PKWN; DOKUMENT NR 2 - 1944 [wrzesien?], [Lublin] – Regulamin Komisji Prawniczej, dzialającej przy Resorcie Sprawiedliwości PKWN; DOKUMENT NR 3 - 1945 listopad 15, Warszawa – Uchwala Rady Ministrow o trybie uchwalania projektow ustaw, dekretow i rozporządzen; DOKUMENT NR 4 - 1946 marzec 28, Warszawa – uchwala Rady Ministrow RP o merytorycznym uzgadnianiu projektow aktow ustawodawczych

Pismo przewodniczącego Komisji Kodyfikacyjnej przy Ministrze Sprawiedliwości Jana Wasilkowskiego do wiceministra sprawiedliwości Stanislawa Walczaka

Summary After World War II Polish law was based on law of the USSR. Family law played important role in the reception of Soviet law, because it was the first example of applying Soviet rules. According to Soviet doctrine and legislation, family law was treated as an independent branch of law, separated from civil law. The construction of private law was rejected. The process of adapting Soviet rules started in 1949, when Polish and Czechoslovak lawyers were working together on draft of Family Code. No one of important Polish lawyers supported the idea of separation of family law from civil law at the beginning of works. Later they were forced to change their views and some of them (especially Seweryn Szer) supported the idea of separation of family law strongly. In the late 50’s the discussion about localization of family law was very emotional and open. It was the result of changing political situation (fall of the Stalinism). However, there was no political consent to prepare one civil code and that’s why two codes were passed in 1964: Family and Guardianship Code and Civil Code. The reception of Soviet rules in Polish family law was superficial. According to the prevailing opinion, the existence of separate Family code did not create independent branch of law and family law was regarded as a part of civil law. The supporters of the idea of separation were not able to construct the convincing theory about it. Present attempts to retain separated family code have no historical justification. 1. W latach 1945–1964 dokonaly sie zasadnicze zmiany w prawie rodzinnym Polski Ludowej. Ich początkiem byla przeprowadzona w latach 1945–1946 unifikacja prawa cywilnego, w ramach ktorej doszlo do powstania nowych regulacji prawa rodzinnego. Nastepnie w latach 1947–1949 trwaly niezakonczone prace nad kodyfikacją prawa cywilnego. W 1950 r. wszedl w zycie kodeks ro

The draft of legal regulations about consanguinity and guardianship was supposed to be a part of the codification of civil law, consisting of five parts (so called: books): general part, family law, property law, law of obligations and inheritance law. In the proposed draft the family law was placed as book II, according to pattern coming from the Swiss code. The draft was based on the decrees from 1945–1946, which unified Polish civil law. The authors of this draft have not changed much in the existing law. The proposed changes were improving the legal situation of children coming out of wedlock, there were also some changes in the property relations between parents and children proposed. Few amendments referred to law of adoption. The guardianship law was unchanged. The draft was presenting very high level of civil law. However, the works on the draft code were interrupted in 1949, because the communist authorities declared draft as “bourgeois” one and not suitable in the new political situation of Stalinist Poland.

The text presents the genesis of the Act of 13 July 1939 on Faciliating Adoption of Minors. The Act was passed by Polish Parliament just before World War II broke and had significant importance in the process of adopting orphans during the war. The bill was proposed by the MP Eugeniusz Jurkowski. The bill contained very radical solutions. It referred only to minor children. The act of adoption should have been validated trough court’s proceedings, and the results of adoption were constructed as adoptio plena . During the legislation process the bill was seriously changed and some of the progressive solutions were eliminated. Nevertheless, the Act seems to be a big achievement of Polish legislators. The regulations proposed in the Act were introduced into Polish Family and Guardianship Code of 1964, which is still in power.