Studies on the Law of Succession in the Draft Civil Code of 1948

Abstract

After successful process of unification of Polish civil law in 1946, in the period 1947–1949 works on the codifications of this branch of law were held. In February 1947 the Co- dification Commission was established. The Commission was to prepare the version of Civil Code, based on the existing acts and decrees. The changes in the existing law could be done only exceptionally. The draft of inheritance law, as a part of civil code, was prepared by Seweryn Szer and Jan Witecki. The first reading was concluded in December 1948. There were some important changes in inheritance law, for example provisions concerning statutory scuccesion and – in particular, groups accepting suc- cession. At last, the draft of inheritance law was not even published. In 1949 the work on new code was stopped beacuse of political reasons (the Stalinisation of Poland).