The judiciary is independent of the executive. There are dis trict and provincial courts and a Supreme Court for the whole republic. The former laws of Russian, Prussian and Austrian Poland are still administered, but a Codification commission has already published a draft of the Polish Criminal Code. The republic is divided into 16 provinces (Wojewodztwa), which are divided into districts (Starostwa). The lowest unit of local admin istration is the rural commune (Gmina). The system of local autonomy is not yet completely fixed. Silesia has a special autono mous system, while autonomy for the Ruthenian provinces is under discussion.
The Polish Constitution has been applied to a country where, formerly, exceptional laws were enacted by the German and Russian Governments against Poles. In consequence, it carefully safeguards the individual rights of all citizens, including those who are not Poles, and ensures to minorities "full and unrestricted development of their national life through autonomous, legally recognized institutions." The division of the deputies of the Sejm into parties was at first difficult, owing to the different conditions of the previous parties in the Prussian, Austrian and Russian representative assemblies. There were previously no conservative parties in Poland because there were no Polish institutions to conserve. In the Sejm of 1922 a division, on the usual Continental plan, into Right, Centre and Left took place. The Right consisted of three moderate parties, of which the National Democracy, so powerful under Roman Dmowski in Russian Poland, was the basis. The Centre comprised a Workmen's Party and the two wings of a Peasants' Plrty, based on the former Popular Party of Galicia. The former had 169 deputies, the latter 143. The Left consisted of the Polish Party of Socialists, numbering 41, to which Marshal Pilsudski belonged, two Communists and 89 deputies representing the national minorities (Jews, Germans, Ukrainians, etc.). Since then a change has taken place through the activities of Marshal Pilsudski, who formed a new Government bloc in 1928 and gained for it 135 deputies, mainly at the expense of the Right parties. The uncertainties of the political position in the Sejm has led to frequent changes of ministers, which has hindered the development of the country, but, fortunately, good administrators have held the Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs for considerable periods. The subdivision of parties on historical, as well as
social and national grounds, has been unfortunate, but this is inherent in the rise of a new political entity.
Education and Religion.—A network of schools has been created in Poland. Education is universal and compulsory between the ages of 7 and 14. In 1925 there were 27,414 elementary schools, with 66,176 teachers and 3,237,340 pupils. While in most of them instruction was carried on in the Polish language, in 3,025 teaching was in Ruthenian; 1,217 were German, 113 Yiddish, 92 Lithuanian, 71 Hebrew, 39 Czech, 32 White Russian and I1 Russian schools, while others were bilingual. There were 778 secondary schools, with 219,978 pupils, of whom about 18% came from peasant families. Lastly, there were 13 universities and colleges. To the ancient universities of Cracow (founded in 1363), Lemberg and Warsaw, were added the restored University of Vilna and a new university at Poznan, two polytechnics, an agricultural academy, a veterinary academy, a mining college, a high school of art—all State institutions, with 36,302 undergraduates. A free university has been established at Warsaw and a Catholic uni versity at Lublin, while a project is being realized for the founda tion of a Ruthenian university at Lemberg. There were, in 182 teachers' seminaries, with 29,872 students, and 829 technical schools, with 94,665 students.
By the Constitution of 1921 absolute religious toleration is guaranteed to all Churches. The Roman Catholic Church em braces 75% of the population. Its relations to the State were defined by a concordat with the Holy See in 1925, by which the extension of the agrarian reform to ecclesiastical property was granted, and the Church was organized in five provinces (Poznan, Cracow, Warsaw, Lemberg and Vilna), with 20 dioceses; the Ruthenian Catholic Church was to be governed in one province (Lemberg) with three dioceses; and the Armenian Catholic Church by the archbishop of Lemberg.
The Greek-Orthodox Church of Poland has been constituted as an autocephalous church, embracing 3,100,000 of the population, under the metropolitan of Warsaw and the five dioceses of Vol hynia, Polesie, Grodno, Vilna and Warsaw. The Lutheran and Calvinist churches, with i,oio,000 worshippers, have similar au tonomy, as have the Jewish communes, in which are organized 2,800,000 Jews, and the small Mohammedan community.