As part of the work on the return of Belarusian values to their homeland, the Maldzis initiative bought the Statute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) of 1588 (the third Statute), published in Vilnius in 1693 already in Polish.
The Statute of the GDL of 1588 is the most important publication printed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for all the times of its existence, and one of the most perfect legal documents in the world at that time.
Pavel Matsukevich, the head of the initiative, stressed that the third Statute of the GDL is a monument of the Belarusian legal culture, in which one can see the idea of establishing a rule of law and the first step towards it.
“The Charter protected the independence of the GDL, and it implemented the idea of dividing power into three branches, generally accepted today: legislative, executive and judicial. The statute was in force for more than 250 years, survived the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the disappearance of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a result of the incorporation of the Belarusian lands into the Russian Empire. By comparison, the world’s oldest U.S. constitution is only approaching its 240-year age,” he said.
The extracted old printing was found in an antique store in Kalisz (Poland) and bought with the funds of Belarusian donors Siarhei Kazlouski, Raman Andryjanau, Philip Daineka and Daria Slizh. Soon it will be exhibited at special events outside Belarus, but after a while it will be transferred to the first capital of the Republic of Belarus, Navahrudak, to the local museum of local lore.
The original Statute of the GDL of 1588 was written in “Russian”, as Belarusian was called in the old days. The first Polish translation appeared only a quarter of a century later. The privilege of the Polish King and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund III Vasa on January 28, 1588 approved the charter and demanded the creation of a Polish translation.
