Rewolucja październikowa a polskie prawo spadkowe

One of the most drastic legal solutions introduced after the outbreak of the October Revolution was the abolition of inheritance. In subsequent years the basic institutions of inheritance law have been gradually restored, but the scope of the inheritance law granted to citizens has remained narrow. The purpose of this paper is to indicate the potential impact of these Soviet patterns on contemporary Polish inheritance law. The article is divided into three parts. The first part presents a brief outline of the evolution of Soviet inheritance law, from the period of the October Revolution to 1945. There- after, the proposal to implement Soviet solutions into Polish law is presented. It was embodied in five theses for the project of inheritance law, prepared during the works of the Codification Commission in 1951. The last part describes the further history of this project. The article finishes with the concluding remarks in which the author seeks to indicate the legacy of the October Revolution in the current inheritance law in Poland.