The Image of an Attorney as Illustrated in the Works of Polish Poets and Political Writers in the 16th–17th Centuries

The article presents the image of an attorney as characterized in Old Polish literature from the 16th and 17th centuries. It reflected, to some extent, the attitude of the people of the time (primarily the nobility) towards the legal profession. There is no doubt that the perception of attorneys by Old Polish society was unequivocally negative. They were portrayed as greedy, dishonest men, liars with no respect for the law and even instigators of non-compliance with the law. Literary works and political writings broadly condemned such behaviors. However, this stereotype applied only to professional attorneys-at-law. By no means were non-professional agents (attorneys in fact) attacked, nor was the institution of the power of attorney itself criticized. It seems that this sort of critical attitude was not estate-based (many attorneys were noblemen), although it is possible that the low descent of lawyers influenced the virulence of the criticism. The paper attempts to answer the question as to what extent the literary image of an attorney corresponded to reality. It seems that the works comprised objective reflections on the legal profession and the emotional attitudes of individuals (including the authors themselves) or social groups. It is noteworthy that these pieces of literature often regarded the entire Polish legal system of the time as dysfunctional. Nevertheless, the recurrence of motifs such as greediness or dishonesty gives reason to believe that at least some of these allegations were not unfounded. At the same time, it should be noted that this image of a lawyer corresponded with the stereotype present in European and non-European culture from antiquity to contemporary times. * This article is an English translation of the paper published in Polish in Cracow Studies of Constitutional and Legal History in 2023. See Górski, “Wizerunek pełnomocnika procesowego”. The original article was prepared on the basis of materials collected and compiled during the implementation of the project “Starosta krakowski jako organ sądownictwa w pierwszej połowie XVII wieku” (The Captain of Kraków as a Judicial Body in the First Half of the 17th Century), financed by the Minister of Science and Higher Education under the “Diamond Grant” program, No. DI2013 000543.