Polish constitutional heritage in the light of the French revolution

• Autores: Jacek Jedruch
• Localización: Parliaments, estates & representation = Parlements, états & représentation, ISSN-e 1947-248X, ISSN 0260-6755, Vol. 12, Nº. 1, 1992, págs. 59-66
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Affected by the political influences from America and France, Poland's constitution of 1791 revised the electoral ordinance for the gentry, modified the administration of the cities and gave them representation in the Seym, and finally instituted a hereditary monarchy with checks and balances between the branches of government. The opposition of domestic conservatives, aided by armed foreign intervention, secured the repeal of this constitution in 1793. The result was a national insurrection in 1794 the defeat of which led to the final partition of Poland. Napoleon's 1807 Prussian campaign led to the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw, whose constitution was based on French egalitarian ideas and whose civil law was the Code Napoleon. The constitution separated executive and legislative functions and placed constitutional matters in the hands of the executive. In 1815 the Poles secured from tsar Alexander I the establishment of a hereditary constitutional monarchy with an appointed senate, an elected Seym and an extensive Bill of Rights. The system eventually failed when tsar Nicholas I violated the constitution and public dissatisfaction with the conduct of his brother, Constantine, precipitated the revolution of 1830.