The Free Royal Cities Act (full Polish title: Miasta Nasze Królewskie wolne w państwach Rzeczypospolitej; English: "Our Free Royal Cities in the States of the Commonwealth", or the Law on the Cities, Prawo o miastach) was an act adopted by the Four-Year Sejm (1788-92) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on April 18, 1791, in the run-up to the adoption of the Constitution of May 3, 1791.
The Free Royal Cities Act was subsequently stipulated, in that Constitution's Article III, to be an integral part of the Constitution.
The Act granted to the Commonwealth's townspeople personal security, the right to acquire landed property, and eligibility for military officers' commissions, public offices, and membership in the szlachta (nobility).
The Act constituted a major element in the Constitution's advancement of democracy in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (which was converted by the Constitution into a unitary state, henceforth called the "Polish Republic" — "Rzeczpospolita Polska").
Famous quotes containing the words free, royal, cities and/or act:
“Do we call this the land of the free? What is it to be free from King George and continue the slaves of King Prejudice? What is it to be born free and not to live free? What is the value of any political freedom, but as a means to moral freedom? Is it a freedom to be slaves, or a freedom to be free, of which we boast?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Vanessa wanted to be a ballerina. Dad had such hopes for her.... Corin was the academically brilliant one, and a fencer of Olympic standard. Everything was expected of them, and they fulfilled all expectations. But I was the one of whom nothing was expected. I remember a game the three of us played. Vanessa was the President of the United States, Corin was the British Prime Minister—and I was the royal dog.”
—Lynn Redgrave (b. 1943)
“We are a most solitary people, and we live, repelled by one another, in the gray, outcast cities of Cain.”
—Edward Dahlberg (1900–1977)
“People start parades—politicians just get out in front and act like they’re leading.”
—Dana Gillman Rinehart (b. 1946)