Jan Wasilkowski
Polish jurist, judge and politician (1898–1977)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Biography
He was the son of Czesław and Aleksandra.[2] In 1918 he started studying law in Vienna and after one year he moved to Kraków.[3] During his studies, he took part in the Polish-Bolshevik War as an artillery second lieutenant.[3] In 1923 he obtained doctorate in law from the Jagiellonian University.[4] In 1924 he obtained doctorate in law from the University in Nancy.[4] In July 1924 he started work as an assistant at the University of Warsaw, working under Karol Lutostański.[4] In 1929 he obtained habilitation.[4] In the years 1926–1932, he was an editorial secretary of the journal Themis Polska.[4] From 1933 he was a member of the Codification Commission.[3][4]
In 1939, he was mobilized into the army and fought in the September Campaign[5] in an artillery unit,[4] initially on the Narew river,[4] later in the defense of Warsaw.[4] He was wounded, sent to Ujazdowski Hospital[4] and taken prisoner.[5] He was then deported to Third Reich and spent the rest of the war in POW camps.[6] During his time in Nazi captivity in Oflag VI B, Dössel, he co-organized law courses for POWs.[7] He came back to Poland in 1946.[5]
From 1946 to 1948 he was a member of the Polish Socialist Party.[2] In 1948 he joined the Polish United Worker's Party (PZPR) and remained its member until his death in 1977.[2] He was a member of the University Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party at the University of Warsaw.[8]
He was dean of the Law Faculty of the University of Warsaw from 1947 to 1949 and rector of the University of Warsaw from 1949 to 1952[2] He consistently used dialectical and historical materialism as a research method.[3] In 1948 he became a judge of the Supreme Court.[2] He was a member of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers' Party from 1964 to 1969.[2] Earlier, from 1959 to 1964 he was deputy member of the Central Committee.[2] In 1952 he was elected a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences.[2] From 1956 to 1967 he was the First President of the Supreme Court.[2][5] In the years 1947–1956 he headed the Department of Civil Law at the University of Warsaw.[9] From 1953 to 1956 he was director of the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences.[9] He was a member of the Presidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1957–1968 and secretary of the Department I of Social Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1955–1957.[10]
After retiring, he chaired the Codification Commission at the Ministry of Justice from 1956 to 1968.[2][3] He was a co-author of the draft Civil Code of Poland, adopted in 1964.[9] From 1961 to 1973, he was a member of Sejm.[1][3] He was Chairman of the Justice Committee of Sejm.[2] He was delegate to the 3rd and 4th Congresses of the Polish United Workers' Party.[2]
He was married to Zofia Wasilkowska, their son was Andrzej Wasilkowski.[11]
Works
- Encyklopedia podręczna prawa prywatnego. Vol. 2–4. Co-authored with Fryderyk Zoll jr.
- Zagadnienie waloryzacji zobowiązań prywatno-prawnych w orzecznictwie francuskim. Warszawa. 1926.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Własność i inne prawa rzeczowe: z zagadnień kodyfikacji prawa cywilnego. Warszawa. 1951.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - "Typy i formy własności w projekcie Konstytucji PRL". Państwo i Prawo (3). 1952.
Honors and awards
- Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (3 February 1947)[12]
- Order of the Banner of Labour, 2nd class (22 July 1951)[13]
- Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (16 July 1954)[14]
- Medal of the 10th Anniversary of People's Poland (14 January 1955)[15]
- Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta[5] (1964)[16]
- Nagroda Państwowa, 2nd degree (1964)[1]
- Order of the Builders of People's Poland (1977)[1][17]
- Honorary degree of the University of Wrocław[1][5]
- Honorary degree of the Charles University in Prague[1][5]
Commemoration
In 1979 a street in the Ursynów district in Warsaw was named after him.[18]