personal union – Polish Freedom https://polishfreedom.pl The Legal Patch of Polish Freedom Fri, 13 May 2022 11:25:20 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://polishfreedom.pl/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/cropped-logo-32x32.png personal union – Polish Freedom https://polishfreedom.pl 32 32 Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw https://polishfreedom.pl/en/constitution-of-the-duchy-of-warsaw/ https://polishfreedom.pl/en/constitution-of-the-duchy-of-warsaw/#comments Wed, 11 May 2022 10:38:07 +0000 https://www.freedom.atractor.pl/?p=1262 Continue reading Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw]]> Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s victorious campaign against Prussia and Russia in 1806-1807 ended with the Treaties of Tilsit, which laid the foundations for the revival of the Polish state as a rump Duchy of Warsaw, ruled by Saxon king Fryderyk August (Frederick August I), grandson of the Polish king August III and a descendant of Jan III Sobieski (John III Sobieski) on his mother’s side.The duchy was connected by union with Saxony and depended on France to safeguard its existence against the designs of the partitioning states: Russia, Austria and Prussia. On 22 July 1807 in Dresden (the capital of Saxony), Napoleon granted the Duchy a constitution. It was modelled on French legislation and the constitutions of countries dependent on France, but it took into account the specific Polish context, while maintaining the privileged position of the Catholic Church and the nobility. Although it instituted equality before the law and gave burghers a representation in the chamber of deputies (for the first time in Polish parliamentary history), the leading role of the nobility was preserved, as seen in the proportion of 60:40 for the representatives of these estates. The abolition of personal serfdom in Article IV of the Constitution was a fundamental change, but a decree issued a few months later stated that a peasant’s movable property belonged to his lord, which maintained the advantage of the nobility over the peasants.

The Constitution introduced hereditary succession to the throne for the Saxon Wettin dynasty, in reference to the provisions of the Third of May Constitution. The Sejm was maintained as a bicameral parliament, consisting of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. Bishops, voivodes and castellans (titular offices by then) held seats in the Senate ex officio, just like in the pre-partition Commonwealth. As in France, the executive power was strengthened. The government consisted of ministers. A Council of State chaired by the king and consisting of ministers, a secretary and four referendaries, was also set up according to the French model. The Council was tasked with drafting laws, resolving conflicts of competence between courts, cassation jurisprudence, and bringing ministers to justice. Similarly, following the French example, the country was divided into departments and districts, headed by prefects and sub-prefects respectively.

Granting of the Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw by Napoleon / National Museum in Warsaw
]]> https://polishfreedom.pl/en/constitution-of-the-duchy-of-warsaw/feed/ 1 Union of Mielnik (the Privilege of Aleksander, Grand Duke of Lithuania) https://polishfreedom.pl/en/union-of-mielnik-the-privilege-of-aleksander-grand-duke-of-lithuania/ https://polishfreedom.pl/en/union-of-mielnik-the-privilege-of-aleksander-grand-duke-of-lithuania/#respond Wed, 11 May 2022 10:00:16 +0000 https://www.freedom.atractor.pl/?p=1208 Continue reading Union of Mielnik (the Privilege of Aleksander, Grand Duke of Lithuania)]]> This document on Polish-Lithuanian union was drawn up in the city of Piotrków on October 3, 1501, and was then confirmed on October 30, 1501, in the eastern city of Mielnik, by Aleksander Jagiellończyk (Alexander Jagiellon), Grand Duke of Lithuania, in connection with his election to the throne of Poland. Aleksander sought the Polish crown following the death of his elder brother, Jan I Olbracht (John I Albert), with the intent of re-establishing the personal union between Poland and Lithuania. The Lithuanians were eager to obtain military support in their war with Muscovy – however, they did not wish to deepen the union beyond its personal framework, fearing that the Grand Duchy’s autonomy might be curtailed. The Polish party, in turn, endeavoured to transform the bond into a real union.

The central provision of the document was its consent to a thorough-going alliance between the Crown and the Grand Duchy. The joint election of the monarch – the king of Poland, to be sure – was envisioned, this implying that the Jagiellons would lose their right to inherit power in Lithuania. At his coronation, every subsequent king was to re-affirm all the existing rights of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A jointly appointed council was meant to deliberate on the state’s affairs.

In the end, the Lithuanian side never ratified the Union of Mielnik. Nonetheless, the Privilege is regarded as the first step towards the union that was finally forged between Poland and Lithuania in 1569.

Alexander Jagiellon corroborate the act of polish-lituanian union on 30th of October 1501 in Mielnik, document from the collection of the Central Archives of Historical Records
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