The Codification of the Polish Substantial Criminal Law in the Sejm Debates 1818

Abstract

This article is devoted to the question of the precedence of the 1815 Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland. The paper has been divided into three major parts. In the first, introductory part the origins of the 1815 Constitution are discussed. This part of the article presents the current state of the art of the polish legal history concerning the genesis of this highest normative act of the 1815-1830 Polish Kingdom. Following the explanations provided by of S. Askenazy, H. Izdebski, D. Nawrot and S. Smolka, it has been expounded that the idea of a Constitution for a semi-independent Polish Kingdom was conceptualised as a propaganda instrument in the intellectual tug of war between France and Russia over the Polish society during the Napoleonic Wars. The Constitution itself had been being elaborated since 1811 with the participation of various polish politicians of the pro-Russian party, including F. K. Drucki-Lubecki, M. K. Ogiński, L. Plater and prince A. Czartoryski. After the groundbreaking victory of the