''Pacta conventa'' (Latin for "articles of agreement") was a contractual agreement, from 1573 to 1764 entered into between the "Polish nation" (i.e., the szlachta (nobility) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) and a newly elected king upon his "free election" (''wolna elekcja'') to the throne. The document was drawn up by the

convocation sejm Royal elections in Poland ( Polish: ''wolna elekcja'', lit. ''free election'') were the elections of individual kings, rather than dynasties, to the Polish throne. Based on traditions dating to the very beginning of the Polish statehood, strengt ...

. The ''pacta conventa'' affirmed the king-elect's pledge to respect the laws of the Commonwealth and specified his undertakings and promises in such realms as

foreign policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

, taxes, public debt, the military, and so on. They varied from king to king, depending on whatever particular pledges he might have made. An example of the various concrete undertakings found in a king-elect's ''pacta conventa'' is King Władysław IV Vasa's pledge to create a

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy was the navy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Early history The Commonwealth Navy was small and played a relatively minor role in the history of the Commonwealth. Juliusz Bardach, Boguslaw Lesnodor ...

for the Baltic Sea. In addition to his own unique ''pacta conventa'', each king-elect was required to sign the Henrician Articles, a set of privileges named after the first king who signed them,

Henry of Poland Henry III (french: Henri III, né Alexandre Édouard; pl, Henryk Walezy; lt, Henrikas Valua; 19 September 1551 – 2 August 1589) was King of France from 1574 until his assassination in 1589, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Li ...

. Unlike the ''pacta conventa'', the Henrician Articles were constant and unchanging. The distinction between the two documents gradually faded away over successive elections. Together, those two documents spelled out most of the critical details of the Commonwealth political system.

Notes

{{reflist, refs= Juliusz Bardach, Bogusław Leśnodorski and Michał Pietrzak, ''Historia państwa i prawa polskiego'' (History of the Polish State and Law), Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1987, pp. 216–7. Corwin, Edward Henry Lewinski (1917) ''The political History of Poland'' Polish Book Importing Company, New York
page 195
{{OCLC, 626738 {{cite book, author=Jacek Jędruch, authorlink=Jacek Jędruch, title=Constitutions, elections, and legislatures of Poland, 1493–1977: a guide to their history, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rmx8QgAACAAJ, accessdate=13 August 2011, date=1998, publisher=EJJ Books, isbn=978-0-7818-0637-4, page=74

External links

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Legal history of Poland Legal history of Lithuania Political charters

See also

Notes

External links