The order for the Main Inquisitorial Prison in Warsaw of the 26th of November/8th of December 1835 and the comments to it of the Supervisor of the Main Penal Prison in Warsaw of the 11th/23rd of June 1858

Abstract

Being remanded in custody is a preventive measure which was already known in the Polish law of old. However, during the entire period of the existence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, there was no regulation concerning the grounds for applying this measure, authorized entities or the admissible term of detention without a sentence of the court. Similarly, it was exceedingly rare to encounter separate places designated for temporarily holding people in custody. First concepts of principles concerning the execution of provisional detention only appeared in the second half of the 18^th century. The final period of the Kingdom of Poland brought about practical reforms in the organization of the prison system also including reforms in the field of execution of pre-trial detention. Polish penitentiary scientists, who were under the influence of the European trends of the Age of Enlightenment, had a quite significant input in this field. One of them was Fryderyk Skarbek and thanks to him a modern detention centre, called Pawiak, which was designed to hold detainees during the investigation, was opened in Warsaw in 1835. The article presents the rules and regulations concerning the functioning of the Main Inquisitorial Prison which were based on the order issued on 26^th of November/8 of December 1835 as well as on the comments to it which can be found in a document of the 11^th/23^rd of June 1858 in “Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych” [The Central Archives of Historical Records].