Czech law in historical contexts

Jan Kuklík

Czech law in historical contexts

The legal system of the present-day Czech Republic would not be understood properly without sufficient knowledge of its historical roots and evolution.
This book deals with the development of Czech law from its initial origins as a form of Slavic law to its current position, reflecting the influence of the legal systems of neighbouring countries and that of Roman law. The reader can see how a legal system originally based on custom developed into written and codified law. Czech law was fully dependent upon developments within the Luxemburg, Jagiellonian and, primarily, Habsburg monarchies, although some features remained autonomous.
The 20th century is particularly important in the development of the Czech state and law of today, namely due to the establishment of an independent Czechoslovakia in 1918 and its split in 1992 giving rise to the independent identities of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. It was a century encompassing periods of democratic as well as totalitarian regimes; political, ideological, economic and social changes stemming from such transformations were projected into, and reflected in, the system of Czechoslovak and Czech law. It can therefore serve as a “case study” for researchers interested in the transition of democratic legal systems into totalitarian regimes, and vice versa.

Contents:

Introductory remarks

1. Beginnings of th Czech state and law
2. Devlopment of law during the era of the Luxemburgs until 1419
3. The Hussite period
4. Law during the Estate Monarchy
5. Law during the Age of Absolutism
6. Enlightened Absolutism
7. Codification of Austrian civil law
8. Austrian constitutional development 1848-1914 and Czech national movement
9. Austrian legal development 1848-1918
10. The break-up of the Hebsburg Empire and the establishment of Czechoslovakia
11. Continuities and discontinuities in the initial period of Czechoslovak legal development
12. Constitutional development of the First Czechoslovakian Republic
13. Legal aspects of national minorities
14. Changes in Czechoslovak law 1918-1938
15. The Munich Agreement and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
16. Re-establishment of Czechoslovakia in pre-Munich borders
17. Presidential decrees (so-called Beneš decrees)
18. The Third Czechoslovak Republic 1945-1948
19. May constitution of 1948 and the political system of the People's Democracy
20. Changes in the Czechoslovak legal system 1948-1960
21. Political trials and other forms of persecution
22. Changes in land law - forced collectivization
23. Social security and labour law
24. The Socialist Constitution of 1960
25. Recodification of criminal law in the 1960s
26. New civil law of 1960s
27. Prague Spring
28. The period of "normalisation" 1969-1989
29. Velvet revolution and period of "transformation"

References

Karolinum, Prague 2015, size 165 - 235 mm, 240 pages, ISBN 978-80-246-2860-8