Zamoyski Code ( or ''Zbiór praw sądowych na mocy konstytucji roku 1776 przez J.W. Andrzeja Zamoyskiego ekskanclerza koronnego ułożony...''
[Kodeks Andrzeja Zamoyskiego]
Encyklopedia PWN, 2 October 2008 ollection of court laws requested by constitution of 1776 designed by former chancellor Andrzej Zamoyski was a major, progressive legislation, proposed by
Andrzej Zamoyski,
Grand Chancellor of the Crown of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
, in 1776.
[ This legislation was an attempt of codification of the previously uncodified law of the Commonwealth. It was opposed by several conservative and foreign factions and eventually rejected by the ]sejm
The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland.
The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...
of 1780.[
]
History
In 1776, the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The General Sejm (, ) was the bicameral legislature of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was established by the Union of Lublin in 1569 following the merger of the legislatures of the two states, the Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland and the ...
, on the initiative of the Polish king
Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of Royal elections in Poland, free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electab ...
Stanisław August Poniatowski
Stanisław II August (born Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski; 17 January 1732 – 12 February 1798), known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, and as Stanisław August Poniatowski (), was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuani ...
, commissioned former Grand Chancellor of the Crown, Andrzej Zamoyski, to draft a new legal code
A code of law, also called a law code or legal code, is a systematic collection of statutes. It is a type of legislation that purports to exhaustively cover a complete system of laws or a particular area of law as it existed at the time the co ...
. A commission, headed by Zamoyski, and including other notable members, such as Józef Wybicki and Joachim Chreptowicz
Joachim Litawor Chreptowicz (4 January 1729 – 4 March 1812), of Odrowąż Coat of Arms, was a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman, writer, poet, politician of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northe ...
, was created. By 1778, under Zamoyski's direction, a code (''Zbiór praw sądowych'', also known from his name as ''Zamoyski's Code ') had been produced and published in print.
The code would have strengthened royal power, made all officials answerable to the Sejm, placed the clergy and their finances under state supervision, gave more privileges to the townsfolk, reduced serfdom
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...
, and deprived landless szlachta
The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...
(" barefoot szlachta") of many of their legal immunities.
Opposition
Zamoyski Code was opposed by several factions. Internally, conservative szlachta were afraid that the Code would strengthen the power of the Polish king and the government and replace the anarchy-like Golden Freedoms
Golden Liberty (; , ), sometimes referred to as Golden Freedoms, Nobles' Democracy or Nobles' Commonwealth ( or ''Złota wolność szlachecka'') was a political system in the Kingdom of Poland and, after the Union of Lublin (1569), in the Polish ...
with absolutist rule. Representatives of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...
were afraid that it would weaken the Duchy's autonomy, part of which was entailed a semi-separate legal system (the code would replace the Third Lithuanian Statute).[Daniel Stone, ''A History of East Central Europe'', University of Washington Press, 2001, ]
Google Print, p.282-283
/ref> These sentiments were used by two foreign powers, which did not want to see the Code passed for their own separate reasons: the Vatican (Holy See
The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
) opposed the Code, as it limited ecclesiastical law throughout the Commonwealth, replacing it with secular law; the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
saw the Code as going too far in reforming and strengthening the inefficient and Russia-dependent Polish governance. Working together, in an unlikely alliance between the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Russia, papal nuncio
An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...
Giovanni Andrea Archetti and Russian ambassador
This is a list of diplomatic missions of Russia. These missions are subordinate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Russia, Russian Federation has one of the largest networks of embassies and cons ...
Otto Magnus von Stackelberg jointly bribed deputies to the Polish Sejm in exchange for their opposition to the Code.[Richard Butterwick, ''Poland's Last King and English Culture: Stanisław August Poniatowski, 1732–1798'', Oxford University Press, 1998, ]
Print, p.158-162
/ref>[Jerzy Kłoczowski, ''A History of Polish Christianity'', Cambridge University Press, 2000, ]
Google Print, p.186
/ref>
Foreign influence, which secretly fueled the already existing internal opposition, ensured the Code was initially postponed (it was first to be presented to the Sejm in 1778) and then defeated during the Sejm in 1780.[
]
Legacy
Zamoyski Code was one of the series of proposed progressive reforms, which would culminate in the Constitution of 3 May 1791
The Constitution of 3 May 1791, titled the Government Act, was a written constitution for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that was adopted by the Great Sejm that met between 1788 and 1792. The Commonwealth was a dual monarchy comprising th ...
. The constitution had a provision that the law was to be codified, and the new codification project, Poniatowski Code (named after King Poniatowski), drew much inspiration from the Zamoyski Code.
References
{{reflist
Further reading
* E. Borkowska-Bagieńska, ''Zbiór praw sądowych Andrzeja Zamoyskiego'' ollection of court laws of Andrzej Zamoyski Poznań 1986.
* Mieczysław Tarnawski, ''Kodeks Zamoyskiego na tle stosunków kościelno-państwowych za czasów Stanisława Augusta'' amoyski Code on the background of state-church relationship of the times of Stanislaw August Lwów, 1916
1776 in law
1776 in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Legal history of Poland