Szlachta privileges The privileges of the " szlachta " ( Poland ' s nobility ) formed a cornerstone of " Golden Liberty " in the Kingdom of Poland and , later , in the Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth . Most of the privileges were granted between the late 14th and early 16th centuries . By the end of that period , the " szlachta " had succeeded in garnering numerous privileges , empowering themselves and limiting the powers of the monarch to an extent unprecedented elsewhere in Europe at the time . Genesis . The privileges of the " szlachta " are linked to the rise of the nobility as a social class in Poland , and to the weakening of the monarchy during the period of Poland ' s political fragmentation , coupled with the institution of elective monarchy ( see royal elections in Poland ) . Development . Before the mid - 14th century when the Polish monarchs granted privileges to Polish nobles , they did so on a provincial basis . The Privilege of Cienia , which was bestowed by Władysław Laskonogi in 1228 , was the first such privilege and was conferred upon knights of the Lesser Poland province . However , with the rise of the unified " szlachta " class , the way in privileges were granted began to change . As a class , the " szlachta " first acquired country - wide privileges in the mid - 14th century , with the first one being the Privilege of Buda , issued by Casimir the Great in 1355 . Under the terms of this privilege , the king promised not to levy any extraordinary taxes , and to compensate the nobles for any losses they suffered on his behalf while fighting abroad . Another milestone privilege came in 1374 when Ludwik Węgierski issued the Privilege of Koszyce , under which the king promised not to levy any taxes without agreement from the " szlachta " . From this , the nobles derived considerable leverage in their future dealings with the monarchy . Ludwik also promised to pay the ransom for any nobles taken into captivity during wars abroad , and promised that the nobles would not have to aid in construction of castles unless they gave prior agreement for such a project to begin . This privilege also stated that the king had a duty to ensure that the country did not lose any territories , and regulated some issues related to the posting of officials . Finally , the king promised that the office of " starosta " would only be given to Poles , and that the offices of a given province ( " ziemia " ) would only be given to the local nobles . From 1387 , soon after the beginning of the Polish – Lithuanian union , the privileges of the Polish nobility were notionally extended to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . It would take several centuries , though , for the various elements of the Polish political system to be fully introduced in Lithuania . The Privilege of Czerwińsk from 1422 issued by King Władysław Jagiełło granted the nobility a promise that the king would not confiscate their estates without permission from the juridical court , and that the courts would operate on the basis of the written law . It also limited introduced the principle of " incompatibilitas " , limiting the ability of individuals to combine numerous offices . Finally , the right to mint money had to gain the acceptance of the royal council . More privileges were granted by Jagiełło through the Statute of Warta in 1423 , which most notably declared the equality of all nobles . This Statute also increased the nobles ' power over the peasantry by limiting the peasants ' right to leave their villages , and giving the nobles the right to buy out the lands of " sołtys " ( peasant leaders ) . The Privilege of Jedlnia and Kraków ( 1425 , 1430 , 1433 ) , also issued by Jagiełło , granted the nobility the right of personal safety , making them immune from prosecution unless a proper warrant was issued by a court of justice . This was enshrined in the principle of " nullum terrigenam possessionatum capiemus , nisi judicio rationabiliter fuerit convictus " , or in short , " neminem captivabimus " . Nobles also received a guarantee that all of the high offices , including Church positions , would only be given to those of their class . Finally , the nobility received important rights with regards to control over the military : levying the " pospolite ruszenie " , the Polish levée en masse , could not be done without their consent , and service abroad had to be compensated by the king . The Privilege of Cerkwica , granted in 1454 and confirmed the same year by the Statutes of Nieszawa , required the king to seek the nobles ' approval at " sejmik s " , the local parliaments , when issuing new laws , levying the " pospolite ruszenie " , or imposing new taxes . This empowerment of the " sejmiks " marked the beginning of the Polish nobles ' democracy ( see Golden Liberty ) . This was expanded upon in 1496 through the Privilege of Piotrków ( or Statues of Piotrków ) . Issued by King Jan Olbracht , this privilege increased the nobles ' position , albeit while reducing that of the peasantry and the townsfolk . While the nobles were granted a monopoly on owning and buying land outside cities and towns , the right of peasants to leave the land was further reduced , and noble judiciary powers over the peasantry were increased . This Privilege was a milestone towards the era of serfdom in Poland ; some historians list it as the event that marks the introduction of serfdom to Poland . In 1501 , King Aleksander Jagiellończyk signed the Privilege of Mielnik , through which he gave the legislative initiative to the Senate of Poland . This privilege empowered the magnates who sat in the Senate , but it did not last long , as it was repealed by the general sejm s ( Poland ' s parliament ) of 1504 and 1505 . Nevertheless , another milestone in the development of the nobles ' democracy was achieved in 1505 with the establishment of the constitutional principle of nihil novi , or " Nihil Novi nisi commune consensu " ( " Nothing new without the general consent " ) . This privilege vastly empowered the entire general sejm ( of which the Senate was a part ) instead of just the Senate ; its crucial part was the statement that no law could be passed without the approval of the entire sejm . Final privileges . While some historians list the privilege of " nihil novi " as the culmination of the " szlachta " ' s empowerment process , others continue the list up to the end of the 16th century . Within this period , further privileges strengthening the nobles ' position over the peasants came into effect when the sejm of 1520 in Bydgoszcz introduced laws that obliged peasants to provide labor to the nobles . It also gave the nobles unrestricted access to the Vistula river , and reduced their vulnerability to city and towns ' courts . The king , Zygmunt I of Poland , also promised to convene the Sejm every four years , and in either 1518 or 1521 ( sources vary ) the peasants lost the right to complain to the royal court . In 1573 the Henrician Articles were introduced . A permanent contract between the " Polish nation " – in actuality , just the nobility of the Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth – and a newly elected king upon his election to the throne , the Articles set out the fundamental principles of governance and constitutional law in the Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth . The Articles , named after King Henryk Walezy ( Henry III of France ) , confirmed numerous previous privileges , and introduced new limitations on the monarch . Crucially , they confirmed that each new king would be elected by the nobles , and that his children had no right of inheritance with regards to the throne . The king was also required to convene the sejm every two years ; had no right to declare war or peace without approval of the sejm ; had to abide by the Warsaw Confederation ' s guarantees of religious freedom ; and finally , agreed that if the monarch were to transgress against the law or the privileges of the " szlachta " , the Articles authorized the " szlachta " to refuse the king ' s orders and act against him . This later became known , in Polish practice , as the " rokosz " . In this regard , each king was required to swear that " if anything has been done by Us against laws , liberties , privileges or customs , we declare all the inhabitants of the Kingdom are freed from obedience to Us " . In 1576 , the right of ennoblement , except in wartime , was passed from the king to the sejm . Anna Pasterak lists 1578 , the year in which King Stefan Batory passed the right to deal with appeals into the hands of the nobility , creating the Crown Tribunal , as the date that marks the end of the process of the shaping of the nobles ' privileges in Poland . Robert Bideleux and Ian Jeffries , go even further , listing the year 1611 as the end , pointing out that it was only then that it was confirmed that only nobles were permitted to buy landed estates . Significance and criticism . The empowerment of the " szlachta " and the incremental limitation of monarchic power in Poland can be seen as parallel to the guarantees made to the barons in Magna Carta , the precursor to the parliamentary ideals of Great Britain and , to a lesser extent , the United States , within which genuine democracy has evolved . In contrast with the centralizing of power during the 15th century by the so - called " New Monarchs " of Western Europe , the empowerment of the " szlachta " can be interpreted as a centripetal movement , to localized aristocratic power and a weak central state , which " had become merely an institution stripped of all substance " , as Fernand Braudel remarked . The dominance of the " szlachta " over other classes and the monarch was unprecedented in the contemporary Europe . At the same time it was paid for by the weakening of the other classes ( peasantry and townsfolk ) , and the central ( royal ) power , which led to the weakening of the Polish state . The nobles ' political monopoly on power resulted in stifling the development of the towns and cities and hurting the economy , which , coupled with their control over taxation , kept at a very low level , starved the government of income .