Cardinal Laws

The Cardinal Laws (Polish: Prawa kardynalne) were a quasi-constitution enacted in Warsaw, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, by the Repnin Sejm of 1767–68. Enshrining most of the conservative laws responsible for the inefficient functioning of the Commonwealth, and passed under foreign duress, they have been seen rather negatively by the historians.

The Cardinal Laws were imposed on the Commonwealth by Russia's Empress Catherine the Great with Russian forces commanded by Prince Nicholas Repnin at the so-called Repnin Sejm of 1767–68.

Ostensibly the Cardinal Laws were intended to ensure the "Golden Liberty" of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility, as demanded by nobles united in the Radom Confederation. In fact, the Cardinal Laws made it certain that the political system of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth would remain ineffectual and easily controllable by its neighbors.

The Cardinal Laws' key features included the liberum veto, the free election of Poland's king, Neminem captivabimus, and the right to form confederations and to raise rokoszes—all, privileges of the nobility that had made the Commonwealth's political system of "Golden Liberty" ungovernable. They also confirmed the lifelong term of the Commonwealth office holders, a similar confirmation of a lifelong possession of królewszczyzna (crown lands). The laws confirmed superior position of nobility over the peasantry, with the exception of the right of death penalty.

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