Martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland () refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian communist government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition. Thousands of opposition activists were jailed without charge and as many as 91 killed. Although martial law was lifted in 1983, many of the political prisoners were not released until a general amnesty in 1986. Led by General of the Army Wojciech Jaruzelski and the Military Council of National Salvation ("Wojskowa Rada
Marital power act came into force) but not for marriages between black people. An amendment in 1988 abolished it prospectively for marriages of black people under the civil law, but not for marriages contracted under customary law. A further amendment in 1993 repealed the marital power for all civil marriages, whenever they were contracted. The marital power persisted, however, in the Transkei (which was nominally independent from 1976 to 1994) but it was held to be unconstitutional for civil marriages by the Transkei High Court in 1999. In 2000 the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act abolished the marital power for all marriages