Advitalitas simplex i advitalitas mutua w polskim prawie ziemskim

The life estate agreement – advitalitas inter coniuges – one of the most important private law institutions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth period has not been subjected to exhaustive research so far. In the historical and legal literature devoted to matrimonial property law, no consensus was reached regarding the nature of life contracts. While most authors raise doubts regarding the obligation to make reciprocal provisions by both spouses as a prerequisite for an effective conclusion of the contract, the source materials do not seem to confirm this thesis. The contract forms used in the land and town courts, the opinions of the authors of the compendia, and the studies of the old Polish law and practice form the basis for the assertion about admission to legal turnover of unilateral lifetime subscriptions.