Systemic Position of the Polish Notariat in the Light of the Law on Notaries of 25 May 1951

The article provides an analysis of the systemic position of the notariat under the Law on Notaries of 25 May 1951. This act introduced in Poland the system of notariat modelled on the Soviet legislation. Under this law, the notariat became a state body, operating through state notary offices under the supervision of the Minister of Justice and its organs. It was commonly classified as a legal protection body, although it was known that its purpose, functions and principles of operation differed much from both the traditional profession of notary and other legal protection bodies. The provisions of the new law recognized a notary as a state employee with special obligations to comply with the law and social rules applicable within the People’s State. Granting a new status to a notary entailed the abolition of the professional self-government of notaries and the notary traineeship. Despite the formal abandoning of previous traditions, the general principles of the notariat set out in the Law on Notaries of 1951 were nevertheless based to some extent on the achievements of the Law on Notaries of 1933. Thanks to these principles for the operation of the notariat, notaries continued to enjoy strong trust from the public, which allowed the notary to continue to be referred to as a person of public trust. The fact that the notariat managed to keep its character as an institution of public trust demonstrated the universal nature and vitality of this institution. This allowed the Polish notariat to survive the period of nationalization and ultimately to go back in 1991 to the systemic traditions that had been developed during the interwar period.