Henryk Rzewuski and Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s Law

Abstract

Henryk Rzewuski’s (1791–1866) works cannot be a source of knowledge about Polish-LithuanianCommonwealth’s legal history. The pieces of information given by him have been at times one-sided and deceptive. Nevertheless, they may – if used with a critical approach – provide details on the old jurisprudence in the 19^th century and on the praxis of applying the old law under Russian rule. They also can be a research base on the author’s views on the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’s legal and political system, as well as their portrayal in the 19^th-century gawęda szlachecka (literary genre associated primarily with noble storytelling, specific to Polish literature of that time). It is also worth continuing the search for – mentioned in Rzewuski’s manuscript – the two-volume Remarks on the Lithuanian Statute written by his father, Adam Wawrzyniec Rzewuski and allegedly published in1782, in Nieśwież. Although there is no certainty whether this work ever existed, it is worth searching for it.