He was born on 19 March 1840 in Marymont (now a district of Warsaw) to Michał Oczapowski and Michalina Oczapowska (née Stubielewicz). In 1857, he began studies at the Academy of Medicine and Surgery in Warsaw, but later abandoned them and started legal studies at the University of Berlin, and then as a guest student at the University of Tübingen. In 1863, he passed his doctoral examination at the University of Heidelberg. In 1865, he was appointed Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Warsaw Main School and lectured there on taxation and tax legislation until 1869. However, owing to his speech impediment and his inability to teach students, he was forced to abandon his career as a university teacher. In 1870, he was awarded the title of Associate Professor of Administration and Political Science at the Faculty of Law of the Jagiellonian University. He cooperated with several academic journals, including Biblioteka Umiejętności Prawnych [“Journal of Legal Knowledge”] and Biblioteka Warszawska [“Warsaw Journal”]. He was involved with the Kraków conservative Stańczyk movement. His scholarly activity centred primarily on issues related to economics, taxation, law and politics. His academic work drew on positivist ideas, with a conservative tinge. He was strongly influenced by contemporary German jurisprudence as represented by, among others, H.K. Rau and R. Mohl. His 1882 monograph entitled Policyści zeszłego wieku i nowożytna nauka administracji, przyczynki do tej nauki [“Policemen of the last century: a monograph on modern administration science”] is considered the most comprehensive and thorough work on the history of police studies in the 18^th century, which provided the starting point for the development of modern administration studies. Towards the end of his life, he engaged in writing extensive reports on Polish papers on political economy for German and French academic journals. He died on 1 September 1895 in Warsaw. Author of many scholarly papers: Zarysy skarbowości ludów starożytnych [“Outline of taxation among ancient peoples”] (1866), Celniejsi pisarze umiejętności skarbowej [“Luminaries of taxation science”] (1868), Ogólne i szczególne źródła fizjologii politycznej, czyli nauka o naturze państwa [“General and specific sources of political physiology or studies on the nature of the state”] (1871), Układ i metoda prawa politycznego i polityki ustroju [“Systematics and methodology of political law and political systems”] (1873), Władze i układ państwa, zarysy polityki i porównawczego Prawa Konstytucyjnego [“Authorities and the state system, outline of politics and comparative constitutional law”] (1875–1877), Rzecz o rozchodach państwa [“Treatise on state expenditure”] (1871).