ABSTRACT
The chapter presents the image of the role and power of the Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as described in political writings in the eighteenth century. Important questions are: what the basis was for the power of the Sejm, what its nature and scope were, and whether its eighteenth-century vision can be examined in contemporary terms, treating the Sejm as a legislative branch of government. What seems interesting: the Sejm was seen as the expression and guarantee of freedom of the nobility, although it could also pose a danger to this freedom by taking decisions against the nobility’s interests. On the one hand, it was ascribed supreme power and seen as the embodiment of the Commonwealth’s independence; on the other, there were attempts to strip it of this power almost entirely. The chapter also traces a gradual evolution of its vision from a traditional idea of three estates embodying the Commonwealth to a modern institution as a representative organ vested with full legislative power.
