thumb|right|250px|Sejm session at the [[Royal Castle, Warsaw, 1622]]

The liberum veto (Latin for "free veto") was a parliamentary device in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was a form of unanimity voting rule that allowed any member of the Sejm (legislature) to force an immediate end to the current session and to nullify any legislation that had already been passed at the session by shouting either Sisto activitatem! (Latin: "I stop the activity!") or Nie pozwalam! (Polish: "I do not allow!"). The rule was in place from the mid-17th century to the late 18th century in the Sejm's parliamentary deliberations. It was based on the premise that since all of the Polish–Lithuanian noblemen were equal, every measure that came before the Sejm had to be passed unanimously. The liberum veto was a key part of the political system of the Commonwealth, strengthening democratic elements and checking royal power and went against the European-wide trend of having a strong executive (absolute monarchy).

Many historians hold that the liberum veto was a major cause of the deterioration of the Commonwealth political system, particularly in the 18th century, when foreign powers bribed Sejm members to paralyze its proceedings, causing foreign occupation, dominance and manipulation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and its eventual destruction in the partitions. Piotr Stefan Wandycz wrote that the "liberum veto had become the sinister symbol of old Polish anarchy". In the period of 1573–1763, about 150 sejms were held, about a third failing to pass any legislation, mostly because of the liberum veto. The expression Polish parliament in many European languages originated from the apparent paralysis.

Origin

The rule evolved from the principle of unanimous consent, which derived from the traditions of decision making in the Kingdom of Poland, and it developed under the federative character of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Political scientist Dalibor Roháč noted that the "principle of liberum veto played an important role in [the] emergence of the unique Polish form of constitutionalism" and acted as a significant constraint on the powers of the monarch by making the "rule of law, religious tolerance and limited constitutional government... the norm in Poland in times when the rest of Europe was being devastated by religious hatred and despotism."

A 2004 Polish collectible card game, Veto, set in the background of a royal election during an election sejm, is named after this procedure.

Modern parallels

Until the early 1990s, IBM had a decision-making process called "non-concur" in which any department head could veto a company-wide strategy if it did not fit in with their own department's outlook, the disagreements being then sent to the superiors in the hierarchy, often taking several months. This effectively turned IBM into several independent fiefdoms. "Non-concur" was eliminated by CEO Louis Gerstner, who was brought in to revive the declining company.

Dispositions of the European Union law requiring unanimity between states have been compared to the <span dir="ltr" lang="la">liberum veto</span> by some commenters. Wallonia vetoing Belgium's signature of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada brought comparisons to this rule.

Decisions made by the United Nations can be dropped if a single one of the permanent members casts a negative vote regarding agenda items. In the UN Security Council, veteoes were and are frequently used by both the USSR/Russian Federation and the United States for geopolitical gains.

See also

  • Consensus decision-making
  • Filibuster
  • Minoritarianism

Notes

References

Further reading

  • Davies, Norman. God's Playground: The origins to 1795 (2005).
  • Grzegorz Ekiert, "Veto, Liberum", in Seymour Martin Lipset, ed. ‘'The Encyclopedia of Democracy'’ (1998) 4:1340-41
  • Heinberg, John Gilbert. "History of the majority principle." The American Political Science Review (1926) 20#1 pp: 52–68. in JSTOR
  • Kordel, Jacek. "The struggle for the majority rule in the Polish-Lithuanian sejm of the eighteenth century.". In: Parliamentarism in Northern and East-Central Europe in the Long Eighteenth Century. Volume II: Practices of Representation, ed. by István M. Szijártó, Wim Blockmans, László Kontler, London/New York:Routledge 2025, pp: 187–219.
  • Lukowski, Jerzy. "Political Ideas among the Polish Nobility in the Eighteenth Century (to 1788)." The Slavonic and East European Review (2004): 1–26. in JSTOR
  • Roháč, Dalibor. "The unanimity rule and religious fractionalisation in the Polish-Lithuanian Republic." Constitutional Political Economy (2008) 19#2 pp: 111–128.
  • Roháč, Dalibor. "'It Is by Unrule That Poland Stands': Institutions and Political Thought in the Polish-Lithuanian Republic." The Independent Institute 13.2 (2008): 209–224. online

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