Wybrane dzieła Teodora Dydyńskiego jako przykład prekursorskich badań nad rzymskim prawem publicznym w Polsce

Abstract

It seems that the existing Polish literature on the subject does not give adequate attention to the origins of modern Polish research on Roman public law. In my opinion, the origin of this research should be attributed to the scientific achievements of Teodor Dydyński (1836-1921). Jan Kodrębski gave two reasons why we should deal with the biography and scientific work of this Roman law specialist. Firstly – as it was reported by the scholar from University of Łódź – Dydyński is one of the few modern, most prolific Polish Romanists. Secondly, for more than forty years (1866-1909) he was a professor of Roman Law at the Law Faculty of Warsaw, with the result that he had to have an impact on a number of law graduates who graduated from this faculty in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In my opinion, besides the two obvious reasons, a third one should also be noted — the scientific achievements of the Warsaw Roman law specialist, mostly in the field of Roman public law. Although he did not author a synthesis of Roman public law nor a textbook dealing with the constitutional system of ancient Rome, two of his works on the history of the Emperor Hadrian and the synthesis of sources of Roman law demonstrate the importance of these issues in his scientific reflection. The two books display the comprehensive education and excellent scientific workshop of their writer. Furthermore, due to his critical analysis of ancient inscriptions and narrative sources as well as his use of philological and historical methods, it could be said that the Warsaw Romanist deserves his place among the first prominent European scholars of Roman public law, such as Theodor Mommsen, Joachim Marquardt or Otto Hirschfeld.