Ludzie króla, czyli prokuratura francuska przed 1789 r.
THE KING'S MEN, OR THE FRENCH PROSECUTION SERVICE BEFORE 1789

Summary/Abstract: Prosecution service was born in France in the 13th century, and it was shaped over the following hundreds of years in order to become a permanent as well as a highly significant and well-regarded element of the judiciary in the twilight of absolute monarchy. There has been an insignificant output concerning this period of history of the prosecution in Polish language literature. In order to fill this void, the author analyzes the circumstances surrounding the creation of the French prosecution and subsequently delineates its organization, functioning as well as its most important tasks all the while paying special attention to the 17th and to the 18th centuries. Prosecution is presented in its historic costume and, when this garb is put aside, it reveals an institution which needs to deal with timeless challenges. Contemporary prosecutors enjoyed far-reaching levels of independence which was simultaneously subject to the king as well as to court hierarchy. Moreover, they successfully performed contradictory functions of the members of the judiciary and those of the representatives of the royal authority in courts, defenders of individual rights and exponents of the interests of the central authority, functionaries creating the law and watching over its application, members of the social elite, and advocates for widows and orphans. The paper also presents the specificity of the contemporary prosecution service, including its strong internal differentiation into individual categories of officers as well as its functioning in a collegial manner, which made it similar to a court chamber in parliaments. The author also cites examples of prosecutors' actions in the legal reality of the period, including the procedural positions presented by them.

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