Archiwum
Ignacy Czerwiński’s legal competences in the light of the opinions of professionals: Przewodnik testatora in Antoni Rosbierski’s comments
In this article I present the opinions of Antoni Rosbierski 1764–1815, a jurist educated in Vienna, who worked in the area of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria inter alia as a councillor of court for the aristocracy in Lvov, on the subject of one of the first books of Ignacy Czerwiński 1749–1836, an active lawyer and, later, the author of Okolica Za-dniestrska 1811 which is considered to be the first ethnographic monograph. In Annales Jurisprudentiae pro Regnis Galiciae et Lodomeriae Rosbierski published in Latin a review of Czerwiński’s Przewodnik testatora [A testator’s guide], published in 1818 in Lvov. Until now, it has not been a subject of further studies. Both publications can be considered important sources for the evolution of positive laws in 19th-century Galicia that provide insight into the law culture of that time, which is an important element of the intangible cultural heritage of any society. For this reason, the publication is worth reminding of.
Przewodnik testatora may be interesting not only to jurist specialists but also to those researchers of Polish culture who are interested in the problem of the relation between law and custom. It was one of many attempts at giving an answer to the question of how to counteract denationalization in the face of the sudden loss of sovereignty and extensive surveillance systems.