Charakterystyka prawa totalitarnego i posttotalitarnego Adama Podgóreckiego

The purpose of this article is to reconstruct the concept of totalitarian and post-totalitarian law as laid down by a great pioneer and populariser of the sociology of law, one of the finest sociolo-gists of the twentieth century — Adam Podgórecki. This task is to be achieved primarily through the analysis of his works. However, the significance of the historical method cannot be dismissed in these considerations since the so-called “historical background of the period” related to the subjects taken up by Podgórecki bears significance for the characteristics he described. Undoubtedly, as he was an inquisitive researcher of the operation of law in social reality, and their mutual relationships — which he was famous for not only in Poland but also on the international arena — it is worth returning to his concept of these “phenomenal” phenomena, i.e., totalitarian law and post-totalitarian law. The researcher emphasized that in the 20th century, even in societies that were not directly affected by totalitarianism, its indirect impact can be observed. Also, he explained that it was necessary and important to study totalitarian social engineering, its roots, and consequences, because of the inherent threat of the re-emergence of totalitarian and post-totalitarian societies in the future. Law, according to Adam Podgórecki