Administration in the estate of the nobility in the literature published in 1995-2007. A critical review

Abstract

The paper is a review of the state of research on administration in Poland in the period of the nobility, conducted on the basis of scientific publications, coursebooks and other source materials published between 1995 and 2007. The main focus has been put on the key theses presented in monographs and papers on the history of old Polish administration. It includes issues like the development of central and local administration, the rise of the bureaucratic system and fiscal administration, the establishment of various public offices and the corps of civil servants. Many papers deal widely with central organs of government and administration such as: fiscal, educational, health service, territorial, local self-governing and other temporary units of insurgent administration. Other focus on the administrative law and the administrative thought then being created and developed. The paper ends with five theses based on the current state of research, which provide a good characteristics of the administration functioning in the nobility.