ABSTRACT
Just like in the whole of Europe, in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the law was an important element of deliberations on the state, society and how individuals related to them. This chapter examines how the law was perceived as an institution external to both the monarch and the whole of the community, in addition to limiting the powers of the monarch and safeguarding the freedoms enjoyed by his subjects. The laws of the Commonwealth not only protected, but also created freedom. The law was likewise given the role of shaping behaviors, attitudes and even the character of citizens. Such a picture of law, derived from classical thought, proved exceptionally durable, and in the eighteenth century, it dovetailed with Rousseau’s theories.
