Wincenty Skrzetuski "O sejmach" w Rzeczypospolitej szlacheckiej

Abstract

Wincenty Skrzetuski, in his work The Political Law of the Polish Nation, when discussing the issue of the functioning of the Parliament of he gentry Republic, presented a liberum veto, a short draft which he considered one of the most disastrous mechanisms of the abuse of citizenship freedom for Poland. A piarist made interesting historical digressions which showed some of the weak points of the solutions functioning in the parliamentary practice of the First Republic of Poland. Wincenty Skrzetuski, discussing a procedure of parliamentary sessions, ammended in the period of Stanisław August, did not always clearly emphasise the solutions aiming at simplification and acceleration of the course of the parliamentary sessions. It needs to be emphasized that describing the problem of parliamentary clearances, he referred to disastrous parliamentary practices and was in line with some drafters of the reforms in the gentry Republic of Poland who demanded radical changes in the clearance procedure or even its total abolishment. Also, when it comes to the disquisitions on the choice of the speaker of the parliamentary room, Skrzetuski highlighted that they should finish on the third day of sessions the latest and recalled old quarrels and earlier practices of the delay in the choice of the speaker and underlined the consequences of the lack of its election. Skrzetuski showed different means of the parliamentary sessions delays, including among other things, the practices of a slow down in sessions because of the combination of rooms in order to listen to the audience of diplomats and emphasized the need to prevent such practices in the future. The piar put an emphasis on the elements disciplining the members of the Parliament and facilitating the course of the parliamentary sessions. The opinions and viewpoints presented by Skrzetuski allow for ascribing him to the group of the continuators of the work by Stanisław Konarski.