Kazimierz Baran 318 German cities had the supreme jurisdiction vis-a-vis the aforementioned Polish cities. However in the course of the 14^^ century, upon the consolidation of his royal power, King of Poland tried to limit the external authority in this respect. Casimir the Great therefore created lus Supremum Maydehurgense castri Cracoviensis or the Supreme Court ofMagdeburg lawin the Castle of Cracow. The Court functioned until 1794. The activities of the Court are at present reflected in 62 preserved volumes of files. In fact, while applied in Poland, the German town law was considerably modified. Hence Bartlomien Groicki, the court officer of the 16'^^ century, described the Maydehurgense as a Polish town law, ius municipale Polonicum. The study of the activities of this supreme court of German law in Cracow Castle assumed by Ludwik Lysiak resulted in his lus Supremum Maydehurgense Castri Cracoviensis 1356-1794. Organisation, Tätigkeit und Stellung des Krakauer Oherhofs in der Rechtsprechung Altpolens, lus commune, Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck Institut fiir Europäische Rechtsgeschichte, Sonderhefte 49, Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt amMain 1990. Another volume continuing this research came out under the title Decreta iuris supremi Magdeburgensis castri Cracoviensis. Die Rechtsspruche des Oberhofs des deutschen Rechts auf der Burg zu Krakau 1456—1481. Hrsg. von Ludwik Lysiak und Karin Nehlsen von Stryk, lus commune, Sonderhefte 68, Klostermann, Frankfurt amMain 1995. V. Legal history is well represented in the Polish University instruction. Polish students at their first year in the LawFaculty obligatorily pick up the courses, usually the two-semester ones, on legal history which is instructed as general surc^ey history of State and lawand history of Polish State and law, Roman law being a separate subject of instruction and exam. In some cases (e.g. Silesian University, Jagiellonian University) two courses on legal history are combined into one which is: comparative history of Polish constitutional law (Silesian University) or comparative Polish legal history Qagiellonian University), Roman law being still left as a separate course. More advanced students may also pick up some other courses on legal history. These are however nonobligatory. After a political breakthrough in Poland in the late 1980’s there grows ever more pragmatic and utilitarianistic approach of students toward what they study.Polish legal historians are slowly facing newchallenges. Their business will be to prove that without legal history' background it is not possible to ereate a fully reliable and competent lawyer. Cf. Maria Zmierezak, Nauki historyeznoprau-neposroddyscyplinpran'niczych i n' programach studiow, Czasopismo Prawno-Historyezne, vol. XLVII, 1995, Zesz. 1-2.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYyNDk=