Regional Courts in the Kingdom of Poland 10 Years after the Reform in the Light of the 1887 Inspection

Abstract

Judicial reform carried out in the Kingdom of Poland, in 1876 led to the unification of the Polish and Russian judicial systems. Regional courts constituted the first instance of general judiciary, competent to decide on major criminal and civil cases. There were 10 courts, one in each guberniya. In 1886, the first inspection was conducted. For this purpose there were chosen the main court in the Kingdom – the regional court in Warsaw, and two other courts – in Kalisz and Lublin. The inspection revealed that the courts were overburdened. There was a shortage of staff, and within the first decade the situation had not changed, apart from the Warsaw court. Such a frugal policy, which did not take into account the rapid growth in economy and population (which led to the increase in the number of court cases), resulted in rising backlogs. It had a devastating effect on the quality of written judgments and their justifications. After 10 years, little has changed as for the presence of Polish judges (those from the former judiciary) in the courts’ composition. They maintained forms and rules of pre-existing French civil process. The courts sought to ensure that those lawyers whose role in the process was dominant could be exchanged between the parties.