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POLISH-GEORGIAN LAW REVIEW 123 UWM 1/2015 Adam Æwik³a University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn Status of peasants in Poland of 19th century Peasants issue at the end of 19th century Issue of Polish peasants in 19th century cannot be discussed without elaborating on their status at the end of 18th century. Until the Constitution of May 3, 1791 was adopted, the issue of peasants had been addressed by many writers of the century. They placed the postulate to grant personal freedom to the peasants, through total elimination or at least limitation of serfdom. Just before the first partition, Gabriel Mably and Jan Jakub Rousseau claimed that the emancipation of serfdom is of utmost importance. The process was not supposed to be sudden, because the political situation enabled only a gradual emancipation of peasants and granting them rights. Józef Wybicki took similar stance and in his Polish letters (1777) proposed to revive the law of Jan Olbracht, which limited the freedom of peasants, but would have definitely served as a relief to them, because to a small extent it allowed part of peasantrys offspring to freely decide about themselves1. Most of the initiatives aiming at the change of peasants situation were taken by private owners. Duchess Jab³onowska for example, on issuing her decision about the estate in Siemiatycze, podlaskie province, determined new legal and social status of peasants2. She made a new division of land, limited the admission of voids into farms activities and reduced the annexation of non-occupied farms. She moreover allowed the peasant to leave the farm, provided he presented a worthy successor3. In 1776, Sejm summoned Andrzej Zamoyski, a former chancellor, to prepare and present codicem civilem within two years. Zamoyski succeeded to do so with the help of bishop of P³ock, Krzysztof Szembek, vice-chancellor of Lithuania Joachim Chreptowicz4 and treasury chancellor Feliks £ojko. The text was edited by 1 J. Rutkowski, Sprawa w³ociañska w Polsce w XVIII i XIX wieku, Warszawa 1922, p. 19. 2 I.L. Goremykin, Zarys historii w³ocian w Polsce, [Sant] Petersburg 1898, pp. 164171; see also: J. Rutkowski, Sprawa w³ociañska..., p. 27. 3 D. Szpoper, Kwestia ch³opska w Cesarstwie Rosyjskim oraz w Królestwie Polskim w dobie panowa- nia Aleksandra I, [in:] L. Ma¿ewski (ed.), System polityczny, prawo, konstytucja i ustrój Królestwa Polskiego 18151830, W przededniu dwusetnej rocznicy powstania unii rosyjsko-polskiej, Radzymin 2013, p. 32. 4 K. Tracki, Ostatni kanclerz litewski, Joachim Litawor Chreptowicz w okresie sejmu czterolet- niego 17881792, Wilno 2007, pp. 4243. 124 Adam Æwik³a Józef Wybicki. In 1778, the draft of the code was printed; it was divided according to the roman institutions into 3 parts. First part encompassed 33 articles on states law, king, institutions, second part was devoted to private law and the third one to courts organisation, trial and the law of promissory note5. The nobility perceived the attempts to improve the status of peasants as the limitation of their own freedom and rights, it was even seen as treason. This is the reason why two or three opinions voiced in sejm in 18th c. that were in favour of the changes in the status of peasants resulted in heavy criticism. Chancellor Andrzej Zamoyski failed during sejm session of 1780 on presenting the draft of changes in peasantry relations. The nobility treated it as an action detrimental to the state6. Under the provisions of constitution of 1784 it was decided that in case a peasant was mudered by a nobleman the matter would have to be initiated by the courts from office under this Act. Polish peasants experienced significant changes not directly thanks to Polish sejm, but thanks to the Russian government. Until the very last years of independent existence of Polish state, practically nothing had been done on the improvement of peasant existence7. Status of peasants in the legislation of the Constitution of May 3 and the Kosciuszko Uprising At the end of the 18th c., when both the Age of Enlightenment and Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth were coming to an end, there was an attempt to change the political system. In the last years of Commonwealth, the Constitution of May 3 had been created. The principal act was passed in 1791 and consisted of eleven 5 S. Kutrzeba, Historia róde³ dawnego prawa polskiego, vol. I, Kraków 1925, p. 228; see also: P. D¹bkowski, Prawo prywatne polskie, vol. I, Lwów 1910, p. 540. 6 I.L. Goremykin, op. cit., p. 166, see also: J. Bardach, Sejm dawnej Rzeczpospolitej, [in:] J. Bardach, S. Grodziski, A. Gwi¿d¿, A. Jankiewicz, K. Dzia³ocha, R. Kraczkowski, J. Wawrzyniak, Dzieje Sejmu polskiego, Warszawa 1997, p. 79; see also: P. Bobek, Przegl¹d dziejów ch³opa polskiego, Kraków 1934, p. 84; which states that in 1776 former Chancellor Andrzej Zamojski was responsible for the development of a set of generally applicable laws, who with extraordinary diligence improved the status of the serf, in a draft form. The peasants were divided into bondsman and freeman. The former were more numerous and Zamojski paid more attention to them. Killing a peasant or a deliberate lethal injury was subject to the death penalty and the payment of 1,000 zloty to the victims family, and the family was supposed to get freedom. In contrast, free peasants had the right to sue the lord for not keeping the agreement or apply to municipal court. Moreover, he had the right to take land on lease and take it in pledge. This project he insured free, and is subject to allow the courts. At the same time he hated the advantage of lords judiciary over bondsman. The owner was still able to freely punish the serf with the exception of the death penalty. Fathers and children accounted for runaways and the restrictions on freedom of marriage of peasants daughters remained. The draft of Andrzej Zamoyski project was discussed by Sejm only in 1780, where he caused such a storm among the nobility that was not accepted and was then on always repealed, not to be discussed on any Sejm ever again. 7 I.L. Goremykin, op. cit., pp. 173174. Status of peasants in Poland of 19th century 125 articles. Lawmakers drew up the rules of the political system based on the doctrine of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu8. The great advantage of the constitution was that the content remained concrete9. The issue of peasants was formulated in Article IV of the Constitution, which announced that peasants would be taken care of by laws and the government. Adoption of this provision was designed to be in nobilitys interest, therefore should be accepted by them. The state from then on was supposed to intervene in the relations between peasantry and the court, but only in the scope of future agreements entered into voluntarily. Broader development of Constitution objectives can be found in the Act on the sale of crown lands of April 1792, which guaranteed a perpetual ownership of land, as well as the opportunity to leave these lands after the termination of ties connecting them to a landowner. Personal freedom was also granted to landless and not bind by any other contracts. State power had interfered in terms of the agreements, with the sales of the crown lands, in determining the duty and obligations of the peasant, while encouraging a shift to money rent. In the last years of the Republic, it can be concluded that the reforms had begun to seek to develop the commodity and mone- tary economy, with some reservations in the relationships on the line village court, which derived from English relations. On the basis of the St. Petersburg Convention of 15 (26) January 1797, the process of division of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwe- alth was completed, and its existing residents became subjects of the three powers of Russia, Prussia and Austria10. If to take into account the draft placed at sejm in 1780 by Chancellor Andrzej Zamoyski, which was worth more than the whole article devoted to peasants in the Constitution of May 3, certainly the issue of peasantry would look much more favourable11. 1793, after the second partition of Poland, is not the only the time of a political disaster, but most of all the time of economic crisis. Communal economy was in a state of almost total decomposition, with the collapse of manufacturing and ban- king meltdown leading to increased public discontent. The rural population had been burdened by benefits for the Tsarist army, which later lead to protests of the oppressed peasantry12. The internal situation clearly made it apparent for the activists preparing armed action, that without basing the social system on democratic principles, fight for independence against the occupant armies would not be possible. Tadeusz Kosciusz- 8 D. Szpoper, Kwestia ch³opska w myli politycznej rodowiska zachowawczego Królestwa Pol- skiego w XIX wieku, Gdañskie Studia Prawnicze. 35-lecie Wydzia³u Prawa i Administracji Uniwersyte- tu Gdañskiego, A. Szmyt (ed.), vol. XIV, Gdañsk 2005, pp. 4546. 9 J. Bardach, Sejm dawnej Rzeczpospolitej..., p. 86. 10 D. Szpoper, Kwestia ch³opska w myli politycznej..., pp. 4546; see also: W. Grabski, Historia Towarzystwa Rolniczego 18581861 r., vol. I: Historia rozwoju rolnictwa i sprawy w³ociañskiej w pierw- szej po³owie XIX wieku, Warszawa 1904, p. 6. 11 S. Uruski, Sprawa w³ociañska, vol. I, Warszawa 1858, p. 5. 12 J.A. Gierowski, Historia Polski 17641864, Warszawa 1982, p. 90. 126 Adam Æwik³a ko as Head of State, during the preparation for the Insurrection, paid special attention to arming the peasants, who became backbone of the military.

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