VIII. The Judicial Authority
The judicial authority shall not be carried out either by the legislative authority or by the King, but by magistracies instituted and elected to that end. And it shall be so bound to places, that every man find justice close by, that the criminal see everywhere over him the formidable hand of the national government.
We institute, therefore:
- Courts of first instance for every province [województwo], district [ziemia] and county [powiat], to which judges shall be elected at regional sejms. The courts of first instance shall be ever ready and vigilant to render justice to those in need of it. From these courts, appeal shall go to chief tribunals that shall be for each Region [prowincyja], comprising also persons elected at regional sejms. And these courts, both of first and of last instance, shall be landed proprietors’ courts [sady ziemianskie] for the nobility and for all landowners in causis juris et facti [in matters of law and fact] with anyone.
- We secure judicial jurisdictions to all cities, pursuant to the law of the present Sejm on the free royal cities.
- We shall have separate referendary courts for each Region [prowincyja] in matters of free peasants under former laws subject to this court.
- We preserve chancery [zadworne], assessorial, relational and Kurlandian courts.
- The executive Commissions shall have courts in matters pertinent to their administration.
- In addition to courts in civil and criminal matters for all the estates, there shall be a supreme court, called a Sejm Court, to which persons shall be elected at the opening of every Sejm. To this court shall be subject crimes against the nation and the King, or crimina status [crimes of state].
We command that a new code of civil and criminal laws be drawn up by persons designated by the Sejm.
