Prawne problemy początków rejestracji aktów stanu cywilnego w Polsce po II wojnie światowej
Legal Problems of the Beginnings of Civil Registration of Births; Marriages and Deaths in Poland after World War II

Summary/Abstract: The article presents the difficulties with introducing a new system of civil registrar offices in Poland after World War II. In 1945 the decree on birth, marriage and death registers was passed. It had big importance for the success of the process of the unification of civil law, which took place then. The prevailing part of the Polish society knew nothing about the lay system of registrar’s office and they followed Catholic Church regulations in this matter. The result was that in 1946 less than half of births, marriages and deaths were registered in the civil offices. The article describes the measures which were undertaken to force the society to register. The new communist government had a dilemma whether it would be better to use arguments of the utilitarian character or rather to force people by using sanctions. The first method turned out to be more important.

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