“Sanctions Will Be Founded Upon Moral Moments” – A Few Remarks on the Aretology of the April Constitution (1935)

Abstract

This article offers an analytical examination of the April Constitution of 1935 through the lens of its aretological (virtue-oriented) dimension. It aims to substantiate the thesis that constitutionalism is inherently linked to the phenomenon of civic and political virtue. From this perspective, a constitution is not solely a normative framework regulating state operations but also a distinct moral and political project.

The analysis employs the categories of liberal and illiberal constitutionalism, positing that each model promotes a different configuration of virtues ascribed to the citizen and the state. The individualist project competes with the solidarist model and operates with a different dynamic of citizen-state relations, their rights and mutual obligations; the former model seeks to minimise the arbitrary space of government action and frame it in a strictly normative framework; the latter often expands it, attributing it to individuals whose power is personalistic and charismatic in nature.

The article explores the ideological genesis of the April Constitution, particularly through the political and parliamentary speeches of its principal architect, Stanisław Car. It then turns to the normative and linguistic content of the constitutional text, with specific attention to its invocation of the “moral moments”.

Furthermore, the study analyses doctrinal responses (notably by Wacław Komarnicki and Maciej Starzewski) to assess how the legal scholarship of the era interpreted the axiological and technical structure of the Constitution. The research thus integrates theoretical approaches from constitutional law with a legal-historical perspective.