Z doświadczeń historyka prawa jako biegłego sądowego
From the experience of a historian of law in the capacity of an expert witness before the court

Summary/Abstract: The judiciary construed as the operation of courts is based on the principle known from its Latin expression as iura novit curia, which means that “the court knows the law”, which originated with the authors of mediaeval glosses. The rule means that courts should have the fullest possible, even if not complete, knowledge of the law that they are bound to apply in reference to the facts (events) determined in the basic court procedure, understood as events taking place in the external world. History of law is a field of legal sciences. A historian of law has certain specialist knowledge. In the article, the author discusses the court cases in which he was appointed as an expert witness historian of law. For example, he participated in trial before the Regional Court in Wieliczka by the Roman Catholic Parish in Niepołomice vs the District State Forest Authority. The task was to define the legal character of a benefit resulting from the charter of King Casimir the Great (Kazimierz Wielki) of 4th October 1358. Expert witnesses are summoned to ascertain facts. In the case of an expert witness historian of law, the question, however, looks differently. In this case, the opinion refers not to the realm of pure facts but rather to the legal assessment of these facts in the light of the law binding on the date of the event, construed not only through the letter of the law, but also with the acknowledgement of the contemporary adjudication and the legal doctrine of the time. An expert witness historian of law ascertains the facts against the background and in relation to law. Law, as a rule, defines the essence of a given fact in the light of law. The object of opinion of an expert witness historian of law is thus not only the contents of law that was binding in the past, but rather the practice of its application in a given time and space. Law of the past, especially distant, lies within the notional scope of foreign law, as mentioned in Art. 1143 § 3 of the Civil Procedure Code.

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