Historical and Legal Conditions of the Crime of Espionage in Poland in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

In the historical perspective, the conditions related to the forming relationship between the political and constitutional systems and the shape of criminal law solutions in the field of espionage are, to some extent, immanently interrelated. In consequence, depending on the shape of political system, and historic political conditions, the criminal law in the area of penalisation of espionage and acts related to espionage was either used instrumentally by the organs of public administration to achieve specific political goals, or was to play the role for the external security of the state.