Od dzieci z nieprawego łoża do dzieci nieślubnych. Z dziejów polskiej terminologii prawnej

Abstract

From Unlawful Bed to Extramarital. From the History of Polish Legal Vocabulary
The paper presents the various names given in Polish legal terminology to children born outside of marriage, from the oldest times to the interwar period. The process of stabilization of indices of this concept was a relatively long one. In mediaeval legal texts, we find multiple variants, most of which mirror Latin terms, e.g. nieprawego łoża ‘of unlawful bed’, nieczystego łoża ‘of impure bed’, niecnie narodzony ‘dishonourably born’, niedobrze urodzon ‘ill-born’, and also the neologism wyleganiec. Synonymous terms survive into the Middle Polish stage (16th – mid-18th c.), the most frequent ones being złego łoża ‘of bad bed’, niedobrego łoża ‘of wrong bed’, niepoczciwego łoża dzieci ‘children of indecent bed’. In the 19th century, two terms compete: dzieci nieprawego łoża ‘children of unlawful bed’ and, introduced in the translation of the Napoleonic Code, dzieci naturalne ‘natural children’; by the end of the 19th century, dzieci nieślubne ‘unmarried children’ become more widespread. A characteristic feature of the analysed terms is the presence of an evaluating element, which mirrorrs the contemporary legal status in which extramarital children were treated as a worse category and discriminated against. Finally, the paper draws attention to the differences between the civil and the canonic law, with regard to their choice of terms for ‘love children’.