Statutes of Wiślica
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Statutes of Casimir the Great or Piotrków-Wiślica Statutes ( pl, Statuty wiślicko-piotrkowskie) - a collection of laws issued by
Casimir III the Great Casimir III the Great ( pl, Kazimierz III Wielki; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, and fought to retain the title in the Galicia-Volhynia Wars. He ...
, the king of Poland, in the years 1346-1362 during congresses in Piotrków and
Wiślica Wiślica is a town in Busko County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Wiślica. It lies on the Nida River, approximately south of Busko-Zdrój and so ...
. It was the first and the only significant codification of laws during the times of the Piast dynasty.


Background

In the middle of the 12th century, following the ill-thought testament of Bolesław III Krzywousty, his sons begun the process of
fragmentation of Poland The period of rule by the Piast dynasty between the 10th and 14th centuries is the first major stage of the history of the Polish state. The dynasty was founded by a series of dukes listed by the chronicler Gall Anonymous in the early 12th cen ...
.pg 369 - It would take Polish rulers over two centuries to unite most of the lands that Bolesław controlled under one ruler. This was achieved in the 14th century by
Władysław I Łokietek Władysław I Łokietek, in English known as the "Elbow-high" or Ladislaus the Short (c. 1260/12 March 1333), was King of Poland from 1320 to 1333, and duke of several of the provinces and principalities in the preceding years. He was a member of ...
. Władysław's son,
Casimir III the Great Casimir III the Great ( pl, Kazimierz III Wielki; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, and fought to retain the title in the Galicia-Volhynia Wars. He ...
, earned his singular reputation not through military exploits but through his acumen as a builder, administrator and diplomat. One of his project included an attempt to unify and codify law in the lands he controlled, in the attempt to build stronger ties between different provinces, and to tie them more tightly to the central government. In the end, due to opposition from various factions, which saw the codification and unification of the legal system in the Kingdom of Poland as weakening their position, Casimir was not able to fully accomplish his task. He was nonetheless able to do so in two major provinces of Poland. The Piotrków statute regulated the law in Greater Poland (Wielkopolska), and the
Wiślica Wiślica is a town in Busko County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Wiślica. It lies on the Nida River, approximately south of Busko-Zdrój and so ...
statute in
Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a ...
(Małopolska). The date specific statutes were passed is not certain; it is accepted that most work was done in the years 1346-1362, that it took multiple congresses (wiec), and that both statutes were finished by 1362.Stanisław Kutrzeba,
Franciszek Piekosiński jako historyk prawa polskiego
', in: Kwartalnik historyczny, Polskie Towarzystwo Historyczne, Lwów, Instytut Historii (Polska Akademia Nauk), 1908
Further, historians now agree that the Statutes were partially written after the death of Casimir, and later the entire work was incorrectly attributed to him. Wacław Uruszczak

/ref>


Statutes

About 2/3 of the Statutes concerned the criminal law; the rest, private (civil) law. Characteristically, most statutes contain not only the law, but explanation (justification) for why it exists. The Statutes were written in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. In the early 15th century they were translated into
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
and later, into Ruthenian. In the late 15th century they were printed.


Importance

The statutes for the first time in Poland codified the existing legal customs. They would form the basis of the
Polish law The Polish law or legal system in Poland has been developing since the first centuries of Polish history, over 1,000 years ago. The public and private laws of Poland are codified. The supreme law in Poland is the Constitution of Poland. Poland ...
in centuries to come, and would be expanded by codification of other customs, precedents and passing of other legal acts. They also succeeded in uniting the country.


Notes


External links

*Ḟedor Ḟedorovīch Zigel, ''Lectures on Slavonic law: being the
Ilchester lectures The Ilchester Lectures are a series of academic lectures in the University of Oxford, England, founded by William Fox-Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester (1795–1865). History Lord Ilchester was a diplomat representing Great Britain and Ireland an ...
for the year 1900'', p. 115-118
Google Print (public domain book)


Encyklopedia Internautica Encyklopedia Internautica (Polish: "Encyclopedia Internautica") is a Polish Internet encyclopedia based on the ''Popularna Encyklopedia Powszechna'' (Popular Universal Encyclopedia) or Pinnex. It is freely accessible on the pages of Interia, Pola ...
{{wikisource, pl:Statuty Kazimierza Wielkiego 14th century in law Medieval legal codes Legal history of Poland Casimir III the Great 14th century in Poland