Rules on liability for succession debts in the light of the work of the codification commissions

Abstract

This article takes a closer look at the problem of unification and codification of Polish inheritance law after 1918, using the principles of liability for inheritance debts as an example. However, until the outbreak of World War II, no unified draft of the inheritance law was presented, and the work of the special subcommittee did not go beyond a discussion of the basic principles of inheritance. Ideological disputes over personal marriage law brought many problems and translated into the progress of work on the unification of inheritance law. As a result, the comprehensive unification and codification of inheritance law during the Second Republic failed. The unification of inheritance law resumed only after World War II, and was finally completed in 1946 with the issuance of decrees on inheritance law and inheritance proceedings. And in 1964, inheritance law was codified in Book Four of the Civil Code. Until the unification of inheritance law in 1946, the regulations contained in the ABGB, the Napoleonic Code and the BGB were in force, including with regard to the rules of liability for inheritance debts. The introduction of the solutions adopted in the great civil codifications of the 19th century into Polish inheritance law, including with regard to the principles of heirs' liability for inheritance debts, allows the solutions adopted in Book Four of the Civil Code to be placed in the Romanist tradition of European private law.