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Teka Commission of Legal Sciences Polish Academy of Sciences Branch in Lublin

Vol. 1 (2008)

Articles

Development of Guarantee of Personal Liberty in Medieval and Early-Modern Europe

  • Marian Lech Klementowski
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32084/tkp.6632  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2008-12-31

Abstract

The analysis of sources, ranging from early medieval Germanic tribal laws, Anglo-Saxon laws, location documents, town and land privileges (Spanish, Flemish, French, English, and German ones) to the Württemberg Treaty of 1514, doubts the truthfulness of the still common conviction that the evolution of personal liberty guarantees should be attributed only to the French Declaration of Human and Civic Rights of 1789 and to successive amendments of the American Constitution. The evolution of personal liberty guarantee was quite unique. The first stage is chiefly represented by typical ban on binding or unlawful imprisonment of a free person, or abduction and selling into captivity of a free man. The next stage embraces conditional forms of security, which were based on social strata. The principle was based upon the possibility to avoid imprisonment before the trial provided that a bail or surety is furnished, or the possession of immovable property is demonstrated [or sometimes movable one or a house]. If in terms of land rights the guarantee of personal liberty, apart from security on property, was customarily surety, then in urban and village areas the possibility to avoid imprisonment was mainly connected with property security. The next stage can be traced to the thirteenth century when an unconditional ban on arresting persons not yet tried was introduced – a ban which appeared at various times in different states, which were sometimes varied in terms of social stratification (Hungarian Golden Bull of King Andrew II of 1222, Polish privileges neminem captivabimus of 1430 and 1433). This ban was also enshrined in an Aragon agreement called Magna Charta of 1188, Iustitia Mayor of 1265, English Magna Charta Libertatum of 1215, city charters of Udine from the 14th century and Turin of 1360, Brabant Joyeuse Entrée of 1356, and the Württemberg Treaty of 1514. The analysis proves that particular trends in the direction of changes were varied across periods of time and different countries. Moreover, these bans relied on social class membership in varying degrees. The content and form of some guarantees of personal liberty were close to modern concepts, and they can be regarded as prototypes of liberty rights, enshrined in constitutions of modern states.

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