Lwowska szkoła historii prawa kościelnego

Abstract

The paper discusses the origins, development, and functioning of the school of the history of church law at Jan Kazimierz University in Lvov. The interwar period was the most representative period for this school. Therefore it seems right to claim that the establishment of the school should be connected with Professor Władysław Abraham. This prominent historian of church law conducted a learned seminar at the law faculty of that university. One should bear in mind that it was well-known in other academic centres both in Poland and in Europe. Not only students but also scholars from other universities took part in it. The disciples took over from their Master both research interests and also some basic methodological presuppositions of scientific work. It follows that in their research they would address similar topics as their Professor did. The school mainly concentrated on the history of Christianity in Poland, the Church in the Middle Ages, and the juridic institutions in their historical approach. One should bear in mind that despite the war of 1939, the school in fact survived owing to the research conducted by Abraham’s followers. In many cases they continued his research. Summing it up, we have to admit that the Lvov school of the history of church law played an eminent role in the development of historical-legal sciences. Owing to Władysław Abraham and his disciples, the history of church law became one of the best organized domain of the history of law.