The influence of Renaissance humanism on the legal ideas of towns-people in the Ruthenian lands of Crown Poland between the fifteenth and the first half of the seventeenth century

Abstract

Between the fifteenth and the mid-seventeenth century, Renaissance humanism influenced the legal ideas of educated strata in the Kingdom of Poland, including educated burghers. The article examines this process mainly on the example of towns in the Ruthenian lands of the Polish Crown. The result of this influence was several relatively new ideas reflected in legal treatises of this time, written mainly by lawyers from the townspeople, and in other sources: about the clarity and comprehensibility of law for ordinary people, the need to use the vernacular in legal texts, the unconditional supremacy of law, etc. The acquaintance of the townspeople with legal literature contributed to the spread of these ideas.