Published: 2020-08-03

The legal traditions influencing testament regulations in the towns of the Kingdom of Poland in the 14th–16th c.: Magdeburg Law, canon law, Roman law and local legislation

Maciej Mikuła
Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
Section: Studies and Materials
DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM68.2020.2.001

Abstract

The article is aimed at exploring the sources of testament regulations in Polish towns which were granted their charters on the basis of the Magdeburg Law in the mid-16th c. Tracing the evolution of testament regulations, the author highlights the special role of the Magdeburg Law and local legislation, and demonstrates that despite the lack of testament regulations, the initial practice was to adapt regulations pertaining to other issues and to apply them by analogy. This is visible in both the evolution of the legal text, which was supplemented with new fragments applying to testamentary inheritance, and the judicature of the High Court of Magdeburg Law in Cracow. Canon law also had an indisputable impact on testamentary inheritance, by propagating the freedom of disposing of one’s property. This issue is discussed in detail along with the key regulations of local origin, in order to highlight limitations in bequeathing property to Church institutions. In the analysis of the tradition of Roman law the author stresses that certain similarities between some local solutions and those found in the Code of Justinian cannot be treated as proof of the reception of Roman law, especially when local regulations were based on common sense, and he questions the hypothesis that the rules of making last wills during epidemics resulted from the reception of Roman solutions. He concludes that local regulations, dictated by practical needs, resulted from customary solutions which preceded the rules recorded in municipal statutes and privileges. As a model of testament regulations in the “Polish municipal law” (to use Bartłomiej Groicki’s term) the author uses the 1544 draft codification for Cracow, which was finally not put into effect, but contained detailed regulations originating from the earlier laws and customs of the town.

Keywords:

testament, canon law, Roman law, Magdeburg Law, municipal statute, Polish municipal law

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Mikuła, M. (2020). The legal traditions influencing testament regulations in the towns of the Kingdom of Poland in the 14th–16th c.: Magdeburg Law, canon law, Roman law and local legislation. Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej, 68(2), 131–158. https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM68.2020.2.001

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