Civilinio kodekso problema Lietuvoje 1918-1940 metais ir jos sprendimo paieškos

LTAtkuriant 1918 metais Lietuvos valstybingumą, dėl esmingai pakitusių politinių ir ekonominių sąlygų senosios LDK teisės atkūrimui esant netikslingam buvo rasta reikalo panaudoti visa, kas buvo tinkama teisėje, galiojusioje Lietuvos teritorijoje nepriklausomybės atkūrimo išvakarėse, o tiksliau - iki Pirmojo pasaulinio karo, neatsisakyta galiojusios teisės perimamumo ir tęstinumo. Lietuvos valstybės įstatymų leidėjas prisiėmė sunkią naštą: kadangi perimama ikikarinė teisė nebuvo viena bendra visai Lietuvos teritorijai, kaip ir pati ta teritorija iki karo nesudarė vieno bendrai valdomo teritorinio vieneto, tai reiškė, jog atkuriamoje Lietuvos valstybėje užprogramuojamas teisės, pirmiausia privatinės, partikuliarumas, įteisinama skirtinga regionų teisė. Pirmojo pasaulinio karo išvakarėse visa etnografinės Lietuvos teritorija, neskaitant tik Klaipėdos krašto, priklausė Rusijos imperijai. Tačiau ta teritorija istorijos bėgyje svetimųjų valia buvo suskaldyta į tris labai nevienodo dydžio dalis, j Rusijos imperijos sudėtį įjungtas skirtingais keliais ir ne vienu metu ir turėjusias joje nevienodą teisinį statusą. Dėl šių priežasčių, atsikūrusioje nedidelėje Lietuvos valstybėje buvo likusios galioti net trys civilinės teisės sistemos, besiskiriančios viena nuo kitos tiek forma, tiek turiniu. Negana to, Lietuvai 1923 metais atgautam Klaipėdos kraštui suteikus plačią autonomiją, jame liko galioti dar ir ketvirta civilinės teisės sistema, besiremianti Vokietijos imperijos civiliniais įstatymais.

ENAfter Lithuania has been re-established in 1918 there were three civil legal systems remaining in the small territory. These were the Code of Russian Imperial Law, Tome X, Part 1, the amended French Civil Code of 1804 and the Civil Laws of the Baltic Provinces. Besides, another legal system based on German Imperial Laws remained valid in the area of Klaipeda that had been regained in 1923. The variety of legal systems has resulted from unfortunate historical circumstances and from the enforced legal systems of foreign conquerors. It was acknowledged that the Russian legal system was outdated, whereas the civil law was not in general suitable for Lithuanian environment and did not reflect the features of the location. The intensive activities of the legislative institutions of Lithuania after it had gained its independence over years resulted in a great volume of legal material. However, since it consisted of separate laws it was not sufficient to successfully implement the formation of unified national law. Obviously, the most effective means to unifying Lithuanian law would have been the creation of own legal codes. The legal ministers of re-established Lithuania have many times declared their concern for defeating the particularity of civil law. The question for codification of law has been raised in government layers from 1919. In 1922 a special draft law was prepared to codify and translate the Russian and Lithuanian laws. This task has been delegated to the Council of Minister of Justice established in 1924. Results in the area of codification were expected from the Commission of Lega! Councils of the Ministries that was active during 1920-1928. All these efforts, unfortunately, appeared to be insufficient and did not give results.A special institution - State Council - has established in 1928 to codify the laws and prepare draft legislation. However, soon it was overloaded by the Cabinet of Ministers with preparation of legislation in the area of public law which detached their forces from the codification of civil law initially regarded as priority. Real efforts to codify Lithuanian law have only started in autumn of 1936 when a special commission has been established which was led by Liudas Ciplijauskas, the Chairman of the Highest Tribunal. Besides two members of the Council, the commission employed a group of legal practitioners. Due to long discussions about the necessity to codify civil law in the legal and political layers of Lithuania, various suggestions have been made on how to achieve this. Some of the lawyers contemplated choosing one of the better codes that was already valid in Lithuania, translating it into Lithuanian and declaring it the official code of Lithuania. This position was based on the belief that it is difficult to create something new, whereas current codes are tested by life reality and would thus result in fewer chances of surprising consequences. The opinions on which of the codes was most suitable for Lithuania varied. Some were inclined to use the Russian civil laws in the entire territory. Others supported the civil laws of the Western Europe. They usually recommended the "small reception" of the Swiss civil code of 1912. The adaptation of the laws valid in Užnemune and Klaipeda to the whole of Lithuania was also considered. Finally, there were opinions that the new Lithuanian civil law should be in principle a new historical product based on the features of the old Lithuanian law, which would be upgraded with new principles and modernized system.The Commission was given a task to prepare a truly Lithuanian original civil code, however, in reality it was prepared based on the system of the Swiss civil code. The Commission worked in two subdivisions working on different areas of civil law. Various foreign legal sources were used, including the Code of Russian Imperial Law, Tome X, Part 1, the Napoleon Code, the Civil Laws of the Baltic Provinces, the German Civil Code, the Swiss Civil Code, Austrian (1811) and Italian Civil codes, French- Italian draft code (1928), Latvian Civil Code, Polish Civil Code, Czechoslovakian draft Civil Code, Brazilian (1916) Civil Code, Russian draft Civil Code of XIX-XX centuries. By the summer of 1940 when the Soviet occupation started, some parts of the Civil Code had been already prepared. However, the fate of the working material of the Commission as well as draft texts of the Code is unknown to researchers.