The First Legislation on Nature Protection in the Polish Lands
The First Legislation on Nature Protection in the Polish Lands

Summary/Abstract: Nature protection law is one of the more recent branches of administrative law, emerging in the second half of the 19th century. Although the protection of natural resources had been reflected in legislation since the Middle Ages, it was mainly incidental and driven by utilitarian rather than scientific motives. The first scientific regulations on nature protection appeared in Galicia, leading to the enactment of pioneering legislation in this field. The first law that came into force was the act on the protection of certain animals beneficial to agriculture, issued by the Emperor on 21 December 1874. In the Kingdom of Poland, it was not until the very end of the 19th century that the Russian law of 4/16 April 1888 on forest protection was extended to apply to the Kingdom. After Poland regained independence, attempts to introduce statutory legislation on nature protection in 1919 were abandoned as premature. It was only on 10 March 1934, that the first Polish nature conservation act was passed by the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. This act, drawing on earlier concepts, particularly those developed in autonomous Galicia, represented a modern legal framework by international standards. It marked the beginning of a new era in the history of nature protection in Poland.

• Details
• Contents