About Professor Andrzej Stelmachowski as a lawyer

Professor Andrzej Stelmachowski (1925-2009) is an outstanding person, deserving huge appreciation because of his activity in various fields; as a lawyer, a prominent specialist in civil law, commercial law, family law, who played a remarkable role in the development of agricultural law. He is the creator of a new school of Polish agricultural law, as he elaborated by his scientific achievements, a theoretical basis to distinguish (in the area of doctrine and didactics) agricultural law as a separate branch of law; he has proposed an original method of research – the study of law in the process of its application, and around these ideas he organized research teams – a large group of students at such universities as: Wroclaw, Warsaw and Bialystok (Professor has promoted 23 PhDs of law). Another merit of Professor Stelmachowski was to determine the object and scope of agricultural law, the fundamental structures of agricultural law (the concept of agricultural property), as well as the legal solutions for protection of individual farming. The recognition and respect for the position of Professor at the international level are demonstrated by His numerous professional contacts and honorary doctorates that he was awarded with. The Professor was the first Polish scholar in the CEDR (the European Committee for Agricultural Law), as well as the first President of the Polish Association of Lawyers specialized in Agricultural Law. The concept of teaching elaborated by Professor A. Stelmachowski was reflected in the subsequent editions of academic books in the field of agricultural law, issued under his scientific edit in the period 1970-2008. In all areas of his involvement, despite changes in the external environment, Professor A. Stelmachowski always presented a permanent system of values, among which we should mention: rightness, fidelity to convictions and responsibility, concern for the common good, solidarity with the weak and being guided by the social doctrine of the Church, all of which gave him an unquestionable moral authority as a Person of great strength of character