Recognition of Non-Catholic Churches Whose Legal Situation Was Regulated by Years 1919-1989

The subject of the present study is to present the legal situation of particular Christian, non-Catholic Churches that functioned in Poland in the years 1919-1989, and whose legal existence resulted from statutory regulations. The study is concerned with: the Eastern Old-Rite Church having no clerical hierarchy, the Evangelic-Augsburg Church, the Moravian Brethren Unity, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg and Helvetian Confession, the Evangelical-Union Church, Autotocephalous Orthodox Church of Poland, the Evangelical-Methodist Church, the Evangelical-Reformed Church, the Mariavite Church, the Mariavite Old-Catholic Church, the Old-Catholic Church, the Mennonites, the Free Bible Students, the Seventh-Day Adventists Church, and the Baptist Christians Church. As regulations concerning these congregations after World War I were issued gradually, it was necessary to take up the question of their legal status in Poland after 1919 that resulted from the legislature of the countries to which parts of Poland belonged, and which was binding until Polish legal regulations were issued, establishing their legal situation. The analysis of the legal position particular Christian Churches and congregations had in Poland in the years 1919-1989 that is presented in the article shows that in that period the state authorities clearly tried to simplify the procedures of recognizing the congregations as much as possible. Soon after the end of World War II, in the years 1945-47 the government looked for such a model of recognizing congregations in which the executive authority had the most competences. This practice was begun by issuing in the years 1945-47 two decrees with the power of Acts, recognizing the Methodist, Evangelical-Reformed, Mariavite and Mariavite Old-Catholic Churches. Each of the two decrees was clearly different from analogous legal acts issued in the years 1919-1939. In the same period the authorities looked for such a model that would give all the competences in that field to the executive authority, which was contrary not only to the letter, but also to the spirit of the March Constitution