Finding our first Commemorative Laws

Abstract

Although the number of commemorative laws in our legal system is relatively high today, as they contain little or no binding rules of conduct, they raise the question of the concept of law with elementary force. Can there be a place for historical memory in the law, or does the legislator only burden the legal system with it unnecessarily? In my study, however, I do not deal with these exciting theoretical problems, but focus on the historical tradition of our commemorative laws, first and foremost looking for the first legislation that can be clearly described as commemorative. I will then present the world of our early commemorative laws of the first half of the nineteenth century, grouping the legislative products of the diets of the estates under four headings: the commemorative laws on recording decisions of ecclesiastical relevance, on foundations, on the founding of our great national institutions, and the birth of the “modern” commemorative law. Finally, I will explain my position on why I consider the legal materials I have presented to be commemorative, despite the differing opinions of authoritative authors, which also explains why I am attempting to draw a comprehensive and contrasty initial arc in the historical development of our commemorative law. My work is primarily based on the legal materials researched from our historical law database and their systematisation according to the above-mentioned aspects – in this article, the reader can get acquainted with the material of the first chapter of my book “Our Commemorative Laws”, which is being prepared and is planned to be published only in 2027, and can express his opinion on it before the manuscript of the book will be closed.