Review:

Mateusz Błachucki, Lucyna Staniszewska, Profesor Stanisław Kasznica – skazany na zapomnienie i odkrywany na nowo dla polskiej nauki [Professor Stanisław Kasznica – Doomed to Oblivion and Rediscovered for the Polish Science], Wydawnictwo Instytutu Nauk Prawnych PAN, Warszawa 2024

Abstract

Stanisław Kasznica (1874–1958) was an eminent researcher of administrative law during the Second Polish Republic, with his primary years of scientific activity occurring in the interwar period. Kasznica combined his scientific and didactic work as a researcher at the University of Poznań with active service to the state as a civil servant and a parliamentarian. As the author of a textbook published in 1946, titled Polish Administrative Law: Concepts and Basic Institutions he influenced many generations within the Polish administrative law community. However, the scientific and didactic output of Stanisław Kasznica, highly valued today, was long ignored in the post-war period by the authorities of the People’s Republic of Poland and by the representatives of the Marxist legal theory, who sought to sever ties with the so-called bourgeois science.

The editors and authors of the reviewed publication have taken on the challenging task of reintroducing Kasznica’s scientific, social, and political activities to contemporary readers. Drawing inspiration from or referring to the researcher’s views on, among other things, the principles of organization, control, and responsibility in public administration, and the scope of local self-government activities, they examine the relevance of Kasznica’s positions on complex issues of administrative law. This article aims to showcase the research work of those who contributed to the monograph titled Professor Stanisław Kasznica: Doomed to Oblivion and Rediscovered for the Polish Science published by the Institute of Legal Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Given the significant number and depth of chapters in the monograph, this review selectively addresses certain studies.