Abstract

On 5 December 2025, the national academic conference entitled “The Significance of Historical and Legal Studies in Contemporary Legal Science” was held online. The event
brought together representatives of thirteen academic institutions from across Poland and aimed to reflect on the place and role of legal-historical studies in legal science, academic teaching, and the interpretation of contemporary legal institutions. The proceedings comprised two plenary sessions and three parallel student-doctoral panels, during which papers were presented addressing both classical issues of legal history and current challenges, such as the impact of artificial intelligence on legal education, historical interpretation of indeterminate legal concepts, interdisciplinary links between law and environmental engineering, and the significance of legal tradition for criminal, family, and inheritance law. An important element
of the conference was a discussion panel devoted to the teaching of legal-historical subjects, their position within law curricula, and the possibilities of using modern technological tools in the educational process. The course of the debates confirmed that legal-historical studies remain an indispensable component of reflection on law, enabling an understanding of its genesis, functions, and axiological foundations, while also fostering the development of
a critical and informed legal mindset.