Sejm - History - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Over time the number of envoys in the lower chamber grew in number, and power, as they pressed the king for more privileges. The Sejm eventually became even more active in supporting the goals of the privileged classes when the King ordered that the landed nobility and their estates (peasants) be drafted into military service. After the Union of Lublin in 1569, the Kingdom of Poland became, through personal union with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and thus the Sejm was supplemented with new envoys from among the Lithuanian nobility. This 'Commonwealth of Both Nations' ensured that the state of affairs surrounding the 'three estates' system' continued, with the Sejm, Senate and King each being referred to as an 'estate' and supreme deliberating body of the state. In the first few decades of the 16th century the Senate established its precedence over the Sejm, however, from the mid-1500s onwards the Sejm became a very powerful representative body of the Szlachta or 'middle nobility'. Soon the Sejm began to severely limit the king's powers. Its chambers reserved the final decisions in legislation, taxation, budget, and treasury matters (including military funding), foreign affairs, and the confirment of nobility. In 1573, in the act of the Warsaw Confederation, the nobles of the Sejm officially sanctioned, and guaranteed to each other, religious tolerance in Commonwealth territory, ensuring a refuge for those fleeing the ongoing Reformation and Counter-Reformation wars in Europe.

Until the end of the 16th century, unanimity was not required, and the majority-voting process was the most commonly used system for voting. Later, with the rise of the Polish magnates and their increasing power, the unanimity principle was re-introduced with the institution of the nobility's right of 'liberum veto' (Latin: 'I freely forbid'). Additionally, if the envoys were unable to reach a unanimous decision within six weeks (the time limit of a single session), deliberations were declared void and all previous acts passed by that Sejm were annulled. From the mid-17th century onward, any objection to a Sejm resolution, by either an envoy or a senator, automatically caused the rejection of other, previously approved resolutions. This was because all resolutions passed by a given session of the Sejm formed a whole resolution, and, as such, was published as the annual 'constituent act' of the Sejm, e.g., Anno Domini 1667. In the 16th century, no single person or small group dared to hold up proceedings, but, from the second half of the 17th century, the liberum veto was used to virtually paralyze the Sejm, and brought the Commonwealth to the brink of collapse. The liberum veto was finally abolished with the adoption of Poland's 3rd May Constitution in 1791, a piece of legislation which was passed as 'The Government Act', and for which the Sejm required four years to propagate and adopt. The constitution's acceptance, and the possible long-term consequences it may have had, is arguably the reason for which the powers of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Prussia then decided to partition the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; thus putting an end to over 300 years of Polish parliamentary continuity.

It is estimated that, between 1493 and 1793, sejms were held 240 times, the total debate-time sum of which was 44 years.