Events
CUHK LAW CCTL Obligations Lab Asia Seminar – ‘The Resilience of Socialist Law – the Case of the Polish Law of Obligations’ by Prof. Aleksander Grebieniow (Online)
6 Oct 2026
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Online (Zoom)
Prof. Dr. iur. hab. Aleksander Grebieniow, researches and teaches as member of the Chair of Roman & Ancient Law and Warsaw Centre for Transnational law at the Faculty of Law & Administration, University of Warsaw, Poland. He is also the head of his Faculty’s Swiss Law Center. Prof. Grebieniow has widely published in his areas of specialization (Roman law, private law, comparative law & methodology, law of obligations, succession law, comparative legal history and history of legal science), is a member of the editorial boards of and a frequent reviewer for international law journals. He is also the recipient of significant research grants. Speaking numerous languages, Prof. Grebieniow has held visiting appointments at several international universities.
cctl.law@cuhk.edu.hk
Until the enactment of the Polish Code of Obligations of 1933, no fewer than five legal orders — Austrian, German, French, Russian and Hungarian — were in force in the Polish territory. The outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and Poland’s post-1944 incorporation into the Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc brought about the reception of Soviet legislative models, a situation that lasted until 1989. The collapse of the communist regime led to the establishment of democracy and a social market economy. In 1990, the Civil Code was purged of Soviet traces and the 1933 ‘bourgeois’ model of codification was restored. Despite the ideological and legal developments that followed the Second World War, the maturity of interwar legislation enabled a relatively smooth transition to capitalism.
Forty-five years of Socialist Law nevertheless left their mark on Polish private law. Despite the 1990 ‘purge’, many so-called ‘legal survivals’ remain in force. This paper examines selected legal institutions commonly associated with the socialist legal tradition that still exist in contemporary Polish Law of Obligations and discusses why they have survived.
Language: English
The Law Society of Hong Kong has awarded this seminar 1 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) point.
