ORIGINAL ARTICLE System of common courts in the Free City of Danzig (1920-1939 Part I. Ustrój sądów powszechnych w Wersalskim Wolnym Mieście Gdańsku (1920–1939) część I. Article history: Received: 25.09.2016 Accepted: 27.011.2016 Published: 30.12.2016 prof. dr hab. Tadeusz Maciejewski Abstract: This article presents partial results of wider research conducted on the his- Professor Tadeusz Maciejew- ski (born Aug 28th, 1952)is the tory of the general judiciary in the Free City of Danzig. They contributed to author of around 200 publicatons, the deepening of knowledge in the examined subject matter. The legal bases incuding several monographs for the functioning of the judiciary in FC of Danzig were determined, and the and textbooks. He is an expert on the history of law and the knowledge about the structure of the judiciary, the position of judges, and the state system, head of the Chair of competences of various courts (The Supreme Court, the National Court with Legal History at the University of Gdańsk, and recipient of numer- its departments, clerical court, the Court of Lay Assessors, Court of assizes ous awards and distinctions. and juvenile courts) was broadened. During the transitional period after the entry into force of the Treaty of Versailles in the field of administration, judiciary and police, the former German apparatus was still existing. This status persisted even after the adoption of the Free City of Danzig Constitution on June 14, 1922. Later, however, the justice system of the Free City of Danzig from 1920-1939 referred directly to the German model, originating from the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic, taking into ac- count the relevant changes. By regulating the issue of the judicial system in the Free City of Danzig, systematic amendments of standard acts were made, adjusting them to Gdansk conditions. Finally, the issues of jurisdiction of the Danzig courts were settled in the Law on the Courts of January 18, 1927, dividing the common courts into general and specialized ones. This unified the judicial system by introducing only state judiciary, eliminating private and clerical judiciary in relation to civilians. Keywords: Court, The Free City of Danzig, Judicial System 148 Pol Law Rev, 2016 Vol. 2 (1), p. 148-168 DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0009.7997 System of common courts in the... ORIGINAL ARTICLE Streszczenie: W niniejszym artykule zaprezentowane zostały częściowe wyniki szerszych ba- dań prowadzonych nad historią sądownictwa powszechnego w Wolnym Mie- ście Gdańsku. Przyczyniły się one do pogłębienia wiedzy w zakresie badanego zagadnienia. Określono podstawy prawne funkcjonowania sądownictwa w WM Gdańsku, a dokonując ich analizy poszerzono wiedzę na temat struktury są- downictwa, pozycji sędziów oraz kompetencji różnego rodzaju sądów: Sądu Najwyższego, Sądu Krajowego z jego wydziałami, sądów urzędniczych, ławni- czych, przysięgłych oraz sądów dla nieletnich. W okresie przejściowym po wejściu w życie traktatu wersalskiego w zakresie administracji, sądownictwa i policji pozostawiono dawny aparat niemiecki. Stan ten utrzymywał się nawet po uchwaleniu konstytucji WM Gdańska 14 czerwca 1922 r. Później jednak wymiar sprawiedliwości Wolnego Miasta Gdańska z okre- su 1920-1939 nawiązywał bezpośrednio do wzorca niemieckiego, wywodzą- cego się z II Rzeszy oraz Republiki Weimarskiej, z uwzględnieniem stosownych zmian. Regulując kwestię ustroju sądownictwa w Wolnym Mieście Gdańsku do- konano systematycznych poprawek aktów wzorcowych, dostosowując je do gdańskich warunków. Ostatecznie kwestie jurysdykcji sądów gdańskich unormowano w ustawie o ustroju sądów z 18 stycznia 1927 r, dzieląc sądy powszechne na zwyczajne oraz szczególne. Ujednoliciło to ustrój sądowy, wprowadzając tylko sądownic- two państwowe, likwidując przy tym sądownictwo prywatne i duchowne w sto- sunku do osób cywilnych. Słowa kluczowe: sąd, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk, system sądownictwa Legal basics on 20 May 1898.1 Hierarchically, the lowest in- stance were the clerical courts (Amtsgerichte) 2. The courts of appeal were the national courts, In its structure, the justice system of the Free also called the district courts (Landesgericht) 3. City of Danzig (hereinafter FC of Danzig) refers directly to the German model, originating from 1Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz von 27. Januar 1877 in der Fassung the Second Reich and the Weimar Republic. der Bekanntmachung vom 20. Mai 1898, Reichsgesetzblatt 1898, s. 371 i n.; (RGBl.) In the Second Reich the common court system, 2Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz…, § 22–24. as previously mentioned, was defined by the law of 27 January 1877, considerably revised 3Ibidem, § 58–78. 149 Polish Law Review www.polishlawreview.pl ORIGINAL ARTICLE System of common courts in the... Next instance was the national higher courts with: judicial independence (Article 61), ban on (Oberlandesgerichte), which performed cassa- the creation of exceptional courts (Article 62), tion functions on the judgments of the clerical selection of judges (Article 64), deprivation of courts, and appeals from the national courts4. their office or transfer (Article 65), constitution All these were the bodies of individual coun- and jurisdiction (Article 69), which was sup- tries, and not the whole Reich. The Supreme posed to be defined in a separate law9. Court, in addition, the one for the whole coun- try was Reich Court (Reichsgericht) 5, often re- Initially, the German law on the organization ferred to in Polish legal and historical literature of the judicial system of 1877/1898 was intro- as The Reich Tribunal6. duced in FC of Danzig. It took place on April 23, 192110 (Gesetz űber Abänderung der Ger- In the Weimar Republic, a unified judicial organi- ichtsverfassung). It provided only nine amend- zation was defined by the law of March 22, 1924, ments in relation to the law of the Reich, but generally modelled, although with some chang- the consolidated text was not printed then. In es, on the structure of justice in the Second Re- subsequent years, further amendments were ich. The most important reform was the abolition made. On 18 January 1927, finally, by a sepa- of higher national courts due to the change of the rate regulation, a greater reform of the Dan- state system. As a result, a three-instance pat- zig’s judiciary was conducted (Verordnung zur tern was created: the clerical courts, the National Abänderung des Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz). Courts and the Tribunal of the Reich7. It consisted of 17 titles, covering a total of 201 paragraphs, with the court system essentially FC of Danzig has duplicated this arrangement being covered by the first nine titles (§1 - 140), with minor amendments. Novum was merely while the others dealt with various issues re- the replacement of the Reich Court by the FC lated to the details of FC’s justice, e.g. lawyers, of Danzig’s Supreme Court. The general prin- Court writers, Court proceedings, court ses- ciples of the judicial system were laid down in sions and court holidays etc. the Constitution of 14 June 19228. Chapter VI: “Judiciary” was devoted to them. There were The consolidated text of the aforementioned a total of only six articles (61-66). They dealt regulation was also not officially printed. How- ever, it listed all the changes, included in 17 4Ibidem, § 119–124. acts (14 laws and 3 regulations). Of these is- sued were: one in 1920, two in 1921, five in 5Ibidem, § 125–141. 1922, five in 1923, three in 1924 and one in 6J. Bardach (red), Historia państwa i prawa Polski, t. IV, Od 1925. This apparent shortcoming, concerning uwłaszczenia do Odrodzenia państwa, Warszawa 1982, s. 602 i n.; J. Wąsicki, Związek Niemiecki i Druga Rzesza Niemiecka many other German laws, was only remedied 1848–1914, Poznań 1989, s. 487 i n. by Georg Voigt (Supreme Court Counsel) who printed the official version in 1927. In addition, 7Reichsgesetzblatt, Teil I, Nr 25, 1924 (Bekanntmachung der Texte des Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz und der Strafprozessordnung, Vom 22 März 1924). 9M. Podlaszewski, Ustrój polityczny Wolnego Miasta Gdańska w latach 1920–1933, Gdynia 1966, s. 196–198. 8Tekst niemiecki: Gesetzblatt für die Freie Stadt Danzig (dalej DGBl.), nr 30, 1922, a polski: Nowe konstytucje, pod red. J. Makowskiego, Warszawa 1925, s. 39–63. 10DGBl., 1921, nr 10, s. 39. 150 Pol Law Rev, 2016 Vol. 2 (1), p. 148-168 DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0009.7997 System of common courts in the... ORIGINAL ARTICLE he also published in his edition a table of con- June 1922 r.). Clerical staff of Danzig still united cordance, showing the difference between the compounds with the administration of the newly content in force in Germany and FC of Dan- formed Weimar Republic, which, moreover, al- zig11. Finally, it is worth noting that another 15 lowed the rules on obtaining citizenship, as a amendments were made between 1927 and result of which many Germans obtained official 1936. However, they did not have a special positions of both secular and clerical. Howev- meaning, concerning mainly minor issues12. er, there were attempts to counter it. The judi- cial system was the first one to be affected14. Jurisdiction. The structure of the Namely, on April 11, 1921, the law on the selec- judiciary tion of judges was passed15, and on April 23, 1921, the German law on the courts of 1877 and 1898 was significantly changed, which allowed In terms of territorial jurisdiction of FC of Dan- to loosen the existing close ties with the former zig, the whole area of clerical court in Gdansk Prussian judicial administration16. and partially clerical court in Sopot, Skarszewy and Kościerzyna, and from the district of land Jurisdictions of the courts of Danzig were final- court in Elblag the whole area of clerical court ly finalized in the Law on the Courts of January in Nowy Dwor Gdanski and partly in Malbork 18, 1927, in its second title (Gerichtsbarkeit) and Elblag were taken over13. with 10 clauses (§§ 12-21). According to it, the common courts were divided into general and During the transitional period, i.e.