Genesis of the republican Head of the State in Poland

The article presents the genesis of the republican Head of State in Poland after the First World War (until the adoption of the March Constitution). It was a particularly important moment when the election of the form of government of the Polish State being rebuilt took place. The Author draws attention to the significant relationship between historical events taking place during the First World War, including especially political changes happening in the partitioning states influencing the decision for choosing the republican path.

The boundaries of regulative autonomy in the standing orders of Polish parliament

The main purpose of this article is an attempt to delineate boundaries, within which the lawmaker has got discretionary power to establish rules of the standing orders of the Sejm, the Senat and the National Assembly. As making reference point to the content of art. art. 61 ust. 4, art. 112, art. 114 ust. 2 i art. 123 ust. 2 of the constitution, the author demonstrates what is the impact of the surrounding legal environment on establishing that rules. Consequently, the following parts of this article present the interference of different normative acts into internal parliamentary affairs, i.e. the constitution, bills, UE law acts, the European Convention on Human Rights and the standing orders of parliament. The key thesis of the article is based on convenience that the scope of regulative autonomy, laid down by the constitution, is the subject of further limitations and that the decisions of parliament in this area have to meet some external (imposed „from outside”) conditions.

Political responsibility of ministers – necessity or political rowdiness?

The institution of individual vote of no confidence is a part of the rationalized cabinet-parliamentary system adopted in Constitution of 1997. Its significance is associated with the ability to control the members of the government, and even to bring about the removal of a minister (or another member of the Council of Ministers), whose activities were negatively evaluated, from the office. In light of current constitutional regulationsit ought to be an institution used in special circumstances, because it interferes with the powers of the Prime Minister to form the personal composition of the Cabinet. Political practice shows, however, that the institution is often used for political purposes, aiming to destabilize the work of the government.

Election of Constitutional Judges. The comparative analysis of Polish regulation

The article focuses on whole scope of election of constitutional judges. Topic includes requirements which should be meet by member of Constitutional Tribunal in european legal culture as well as an comparative analysis of election by entitled authority. The most important reason of fundamental significance of this process is power of constitutional court, mainly review of conformity with the fundamental Law. That is why, entitlements to elect constitutional court justice is so relevant for political and of course legal system.

On some deficiencies regarding the mechanism of individual rights protection in the Constitutional Tribunal procedure

The article discusses some problems regarding the deficiencies of the mechanism of individual rights protection in the procedures before the Constitutional Tribunal. The particular attention is paid to the procedure initiated by a constitutional complaint. One of the essential deficiency of that procedure is its inability to change the legal situation of the constitutional complainant. He or she must initiate the next procedure to obtain the protection of his or her constitutional rights and freedoms. Therefore, according to the author of the article, the Constitutional Tribunal should have the competence to annula legally effective judgment of a court or a final administrative decision that is based on the unconstitutional normative provisions. In such a way the protection would be given to the constitutional complainant directly by the Constitutional Tribunal. The author of the article empathizes that the Tribunal is obligated not only to respect constitutional rights and freedoms of an individual but also to protect them.

The May Dawn namely rape on the domestic constitutionalism

Polish constitutionalism has sufficiently old tradition. In the material sense constitution means political system, so she is as old as our state. In the process of evolution in ourmonarchy appeared any important juridicial acts, which composed institutionalised part of native constitutionalism apart from fundamental for political regime customs. In 1767 these basic principles were published as Cardinal laws, which may be treated as original summit of lithuanian-polish constitutionalism. His end arrived in 1791 year, when in the name of progress was proclamed co called Constitution of Third May, which annihilated our original model of constitutional statehood.

The prosecution in the new Act of Parliament dated back to 2016

An experiment with the subjection of the prosecution to the executive. The article proves that the prosecution as an non-constitutional authority is subjected to political influences. The author presents the subordination of the prosecution in Poland and other European Union countries. The author indicates that the 2010 reform of the prosecution as well as the disengagement of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice offices has not produced the expected results, since the reform of the prosecution has not been completed. The reform not only failed to strengthened the position of the Attorney General but it has weakened one’s prerogatives. The aforementioned Act of Parliament brought many of the provisions, which on one hand are a contribution to the independence of the prosecutor’s office, and on the other hand, are a tool of control over the prosecution (article 10e and 10f), making the prosecution’s independence illusory. Therefore, according to the author, the new regulations should be given a chance, despite concerns. The aim of the implementation the 2016 Act of Parliament is to provide recovery of strong position by the Attorney General against both the subordinate prosecutors, as well as external bodies.

Dąbrowski’s Mazurka as the Polish national anthem – the historical and legal aspect

The aim of the author of this article is to analyse, how the legal regulations concerning the issue of national anthem had been formed, particularly in the view of the period from 1918 to 1997. The following hypothesis was verified: the regulation of this matter had been effectuated – despite the changes of political situation and a long time horizon – evolutionarily and the whole process can be separated in distinctive stages. In order to examine the thesis, the legal solutions have been analysed, thanks to which a specific musical work, being one of many Polish national songs – Dąbrowski’s Mazurka – became the Polish national anthem. The examination has been made against the background of the historical process that includes time from creation of the work, with a special regard to the periods of revival of Polish sovereignty and taking the most important legal regulations concerning national symbols. This process has been divided – apart from the historical splitting into spans strictly connected with the geopolitical situation of Poland – into stages that are crucial, considering the manner, how the case of a national anthem was regulated. Thus, the following stages of forming such regulations have been presented: from the state of legal indifference, throughout existing of frame- works of legal regulations, till the state of full regulation.

Loss of sports scholarships as a result of the president’s signature communicated to amend the Law on the sport and the protection of acquired rights

Modern professional sport involves significant financial outlay. Hence assistance from the State in this area is extremely important. Part of it is an athletic scholarship. Nevertheless the legislative, acting on the basis of the article 11 section 2 point 4 of the Law on the sport and amendment to the law on sport legislator changes the status of Polish non-Olympic sports associations and thereby deprive the right to grant entitled to it. Thus ignoring their acquired rights. This statement is designed to bring legislative deficiencies in this regard.

Making public information available as a form of protection of the entities’ legal interest in the light of the regulations concerning the promulgation of normative acts and other selected legal acts

Access to public information is a prerequisite for the existence of civil society and the premise of the existence of a democratic state of law. As one of the forms of social control performed by entities interested in information, it constitutes a category serving to protect the legal interest of the individual. The subject of this control is the proper functioning of public authority entities and implementation of tasks aimed at satisfying the collective needs of citizens resulting from the coexistence of people in society. What is important in the context of widely understood notion of public affairs also includes the category of data on existing law, that is the content yet not in force and applicable legal regulations. A detailed indication of the legal basis, the permissible forms and methods of making information public is the subject of this paper.

Ritual slaughter as the right of national minorities in Poland

The article in question comprises an analysis of legal regulations which are in effect in Poland and that refer to a possibility of using the practice of ritual slaughter. The considerations start with comparative and historical comments. Subsequently, it is presented how the Constitution interprets freedom of conscience and religion on grounds of constitutional laws that are guaranteed to national minorities paying attention to the fact that freedom of religion may be subject to restrictions when one takes the principle of proportionality into account. What is finally submitted is the reasoning of the Constitutional Tribunal expressed in the judgement of 10 December 2014, which considers the practice of ritual slaughter in Poland as acceptable and in accordance with the Constitution. The considerations finish with indicating numerous controversies connected with the following judgement.

The genesis of the Nation and State at the Transnistria Land

Nowadays the legal status of Transnistria neither seems to be obvious nor distinctly determined, and its estimation in the context of the region’s statehood has been a subject of disputes of the theorists of state, international lawyers, experts in international relations and political sciences. The hereby paper is a starting phase of the research over the region’s legal status and aims at deriving the genesis of Transnistria’s government and politics. It is the fragmentary result of a wider research over Transdniester’s status, which will by all means contribute to the reliable conclusions in this scope on the further research stages. The subject of the work is the historical analysis of the beginnings of shaping the nation and later also a state in Transnistria, dating back to the Ancient Times, through the Middle Ages, including its belonging to Kievan Rus’, later to the Moldavian state, and partly also to the Polish Crown. The analysis also contains the examining of its status during the Turkish and Russian dominations. 20 th and 21 st centuries, being its newest history, are undoubtedly particularly important periods of Transnistria’s political history, especially the process of forming and development of the independent state which, despite existing for over 25 years, is still placed among a group of few creatures unrecognized by the international community.

Status of international agreements in the Russian constitutional law

International agreements are an important element stabilizing the international law and Russia’s relations with other countries. Bordering with 14 countries and being a politically active member of several dozen international organizations, Russia is a party to the vast number of contracts and international agreements concluded between countries as well as international organizations. In April 1986, the Soviet Union ratified the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 22 May 1969. After the changes in the political system, the Russian Federation as the successor to the Soviet Union defined the status of international agreements in the Constitution of 12 December 1993 in the Federal Law of 15 July 1995 on the international treaties of the Russian Federation and the Federal Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. The purpose of this article is to present the status of international agreements of the Russian Federation, in particular the primacy of international law over national laws – in the light of Federal Constitutional Law, case law and the doctrine, including latest changes in the Law on the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of December 2015.

Constitutional transformation of the Republic of Croatia during the monitoring procedure of the Council of Europe

The author analyses the constitutional transformation of the Republic of Croatia during the monitoring procedure of the Council of Europe. Croatia once achieving the membership in the Council of Europe took several obligations to change constitutional system according to values and democratic standards represented by the Council of Europe. They have included e.g. protection of national minorities, freedom of media, changing of the system of the local government and the election law. Realization of those obligations was controlled by the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Council of Europe, through the Venice Committee, has helped Croatia to fulfill those obligations.

The costs of judical proceedings in the light of the constitutional principle of the right of recourse to court

The right of recourse to court is one of the basic rights, which are guaranteed for an entity at the constitutional level in every democratical state. One of its parts is the access to court, which determinates the possibility of starting the proceedings before the court, in order to defend one’s rights. The aim of this elaboration is presenting the access to court in the civil proceedings in the light of costs of this proceeding. The author underlines the function of the legal costs by recalling the doctrine views, the position of the jurisdiction and by underscoring the guidelines of the Constitutional Tribunal in this area. Moreover, the institutions of the exemption from the costs and legal aid in polish law are analysed in the elaboration. Basing on the analisis, the author makes a conclusion, that the model of paid civil proceeding is not contrary to the right of recourse to court, that the current solution is compatibile with the general limitation clause and justified by the function and role of the institution of legal cost in the democratical state of law.

RECENZJA

REVIEW

RECENZJA

REVIEW

DLA AUTORÓW

FOR AUTHORS

SPIS TREŚCI

CONTENTS

The paper stresses the need to reform the European Central Bank with the aim to strengthen the democratic legitimation of this institution within the particular EU governance system. Indeed, the study argues for more accountability of the ECB before the citizens without giving up independence. The analysis (also conducted from a comparative-law point of view) shows that the objective can be assured fostering a stronger involvement of the Parliament firstly in the procedure for the appointment of the Members of the ECB’s Executive Committee, within a wider reform of the whole EU institutional setup and of the Eurozone’s organization in particular.

The aim of this article is to present the system of state authorities in the Republic of Uzbekistan, shaped under the provisions of the existing fundamental law amended in 2014. We will also address the question whether the implemented reform of an institutional character means the adoption of a democratic form of government.

Hungarian constitutional system has a number of characteristics, including division of power. This is a result atypical evolution of the political system in Hungary after 1989. Most of the countries of Central and Eastern made a thorough reconstruction of the political system in the nineties of the twentieth century, many constitutions were adopted in 1991–1994. Otherwise had done Hungarians, making a 1989 amendment to the Constitution of 1949. and the adoption of a new constitution putting off indefinitely. Completely new Fundamental Law was adopted only in 2011., in force since 1 January 2012. It introduced in the Hungarian constitutional system significant changes, modifying the way the principle the division of powers. The changes seem to be rational, and therefore to be expected that the Hungarian model finds followers.

A several years ago the Argentinean legal doctrine has developed a characteristic concepts to defer the autonomies of its provinces with the status of Buenos Aires City. It is considered that provinces have an originative autonomy, while Buenos Aires City a derived autonomy. The difference is related to the origin of both autonomies. It also entail the power limits of both autonomous authorities. The borders of the power of the provinces are wider than of the capital city, however its autonomy is also wide enough, more than in any other capital in Latin America. As a result of 1994 amendment of Argentinean Constitution, Buenos Aires City has obtained autonomy and a unique status among Argentinean administrative entities

The European Parliament is the only parliamentary assembly of supranational character in the world, which is not composed of members of national parliaments but elected by direct suffrage. When in 1976 the Council of Ministers of the European Community decided to introduce direct universal suffrage, the elaboration of a uniform electoral procedure common to all Member States was expected to happen in the near future. Until the act was ready Member States could apply their own electoral procedures, whereas the community law regulated only essential matters, necessary to hold the elections in the Community. Obstacles which contributed to problems with the establishment of a uniform electoral system for elections to the European Parliament in the entire European Union led to the adoption of “common principles” of the European Parliament electoral procedures in 2002. Since 2002 several proposals for the modification of the electoral law have been made in each term of the European Parliament, aiming at its harmonisation. The aim of the article is to evaluate whether currently it is possible to modify the election system to the European Parliament, which would go further than the provisions of 2002 and whether it would improve the uniformity of applied electoral procedures.

The article is devoted to the characteristics of the minority cabinet in the Scandinavian political systems and especially in Norway and its influence on political regime. Some interesting aspects has been chosen to illustrate the problem of minority government in Norway. Author explains normative and non-normative systemic factors that influenced the formation of the government cabinets without a sufficient majority in the parliament. The main thesis is that creation of minority governments is closely associated with the evolution of the party system and can be understood as a norm of political life in Scandinavia.

The fundamental right to freedom of speech is a central element of the rule of law in a democratic state that constantly collides with other fundamental rights. Both in court decisions and in legal literature there is a significant discussion on the limits of the freedom of speech, mainly concerning its collision with other fundamental rights, particularly personality rights. This debate has become very strong in Brazilian constitutional case law, mainly in the Federal Supreme Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal), but also in other constitutional systems and even in the domain of international law. Based on the decisions of the Brazilian Supreme Court and those of the US Supreme Court and the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, this paper aims to discuss some criteria that may guide Courts when balancing freedom of speech and other fundamental rights.

The legal status of the independent Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, which in 1990 seceded from Moldavia being then a part of the USSR, still remains unclear. Although over a quarter of the century has passed since its creation, it is still a de facto state, for it has not been recognized by the international community. In the lights of the international law Transnistria is treated as a Moldavian autonomous region of a special status. The hereby paper is the next publication out of the series, undertaken within the wider research over Transnistria’s legal status. It comprises the fragmentary results of the further research phase, which aims at analysing its binding basic law and the assumptions of its constitution- al system. The subject of the work is the shape and content of the independent Transnistria’s constitution of 1995, which has been revised several times and is still in force. The results of this research contributes to more precise determination of the region’s legal status.

The two European referendums of 1975 and 2016 are examined in their historical, political and constitutional context. The paper provides a short account of United Kingdom’s accession and participation in the European Union. The uneasy relationship with the EU is shown, with reference to political process of negotiating Britain’s position in the Union. Some political, economic and cultural factors that have shaped British attitudes towards European integration are analysed. A legislative framework for both referendums is described and the dynamics of pre-referendum debates and campaigns are discussed. The political implications of ‘Leave’ vote (in favour of Brexit) are indicated. Finally, certain constitutional and legal issues surrounding UK withdrawal from the EU are considered, also in the context of the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty.

The aim of this article is to present regulations connected with environmental protection on examples three constitutions: Kingdom of Spain, Republic of India and Republic of the South Africa. The aspect of this research is to analyze abovementioned regulations in the context of duties connecting with environmental protection. It is also significant aspect indicated the possibility of constitute the subjective rights to the use of environment and asserting rights directly from culprit pollution in horizontal activity. In this article, considering derives from editorial construction and taxonomy discussing provisions contained in above basic laws. Furthermore, on selected examples from judicature and doctrine had been presented a stance in order to define, which of these constitutional regulations are obliged to protect rights’ properly in cases of environmental protection.

Ownership is considered, predominatly, to be a legal notion. But it has also some conotations in the frame of economics, philosophy and sociology. In the doctrine of law there were framed numerous and slightly different definitions of ownership. Most of them, however, emphasise the dominant role of the owner’s unlimited and exclusive power over a thing (or value) as well as his (her) dominat role to explore possibilities of legal and factual disposal. The Constitution of Poland of 1997 deals with the ownership (property) rights twice: in article 21 (within the basic constitutional regulations) and, even more detaily, in article 64 (1–3), in Chapter II of the Constitution, dealing with the civil fredoms and rights of entity. The central issue under the author’s consideration should be framed in a question: to which extend the limitations pointed in article 31(3) of the Constitution may define exploration of the owner’s rights and powers protected by the Constitution, in particular; by its provisions framed in its articles 21 and 64?

The long new beginning of administrative jurisdiction in the post-World War II Poland

It’s hard to deny that the history of administrative jurisdiction in Poland attests the dramatic fate the country faced in the twentieth century. It is the only country in Europe which, through deliberate actions of the German occupant, suffered the loss of its entire decree archives. Similar were personnel losses: following the end of the war only 37% of all justices and prosecutors from before the war returned to work. The most serious blow, however, to the idea of the revival of the administrative jurisdiction in Poland, came from the communists’ complete rejection of such type of jurisdiction. It was considered irreconcilable with the then propagated doctrine of socialist legitimacy, according to which a conflict between the administration of the state, realising the will of the working people, was eo ipso impossible. It was, therefore, a departure from the previous understanding of law, according to which the role of administration was to guard the legal rights of every individual. Restitution of administrative jurisdiction (initially of a quite limited scope) at the dawn of the communist rule in Poland was therefore an exception in all of the then Ostblock. The gradual development from that moment onwards of the Polish administrative jurisdiction, and also an increase in popular awareness of individual rights, are best testified by the statistical data. If in 1980, the first year of the restored administrative jurisdiction, 2,470 cases were submitted to court, in 2015 there were as many as 83,529 cases.

The Polish law provides for two types of people’s initiative. One type is a people’s initiative of putting a bill before the parliament as provided for in Art. 118 subpar. 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the Act dated 24 June 1999 on the use of a legislative initiative by citizens. The second type is a people’s initiative of putting forward a motion to hold a legislative referendum regulated by the Act dated 14 March 2003 on holding a national referendum. The legislature did not provide for, however, a people’s initiative for the purpose of amending the constitution or its abrogation. The subject of this paper is the institution of a people’s initiative of putting a bill before the parliament.

The subject of the analysis refers to amnesty acts in Poland in the 20 th century. A thesis is posed in the paper that in principle they take place at the moments which are politically important for the Republic of Poland, the aim of which is to establish them in the social consciousness. Typically, they are the acts of the parliament. The Polish doctrine of law clearly presents a separate character of amnesty acts in reference to the court verdicts. They are an expression of the will of the parliament, independent of the court’s judgment, according to which amnesty should be carried out.

In a situation of uniformity of President’s political orientation, of parliamentary majority which means the government, statutory veto motivated by a difference in a substantial evaluation of acts ceases to operate. In such a situation a task to curb the legislative must reside exclusively in the judiciary, thus in particular in the Constitutional Tribunal. In order to fulfil this task effectively the constitutional tribunal must be free from an allegation that its jurisdiction is motivated by anything else than compatibility with the constitution. From this point of view a way in which judges of the Tribunal are appointed has the key meaning. The issue consists in how to free the composition of the Tribunal from the political system existing in parliament.

SPRAWOZDANIE

REPORT

SPRAWOZDANIE

REPORT

DLA AUTORÓW

FOR AUTHORS

SPIS TREŚCI

TABLE OF CONTENTS

This article concerns the legal status of the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces (Naczelny Dowódca Sił Zbrojnych). This is one of the most significant state organs for security that is nominated for a time of war. The main elements of his legal status were defined in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and elaborated in the statutory regulation. Pursuant to these documents this organ is subordinate to the Head of State and his functioning is defined during a war. His basic competences embrace commanding of the Polish Armed Forces together with ensuring the co-operation of the subordinated forces with their allied counterparts in planning and conducting the military operations. He bears the constitutional responsibility for the violation of the Constitution and the statute. Nevertheless, this regulation is neither comprehensive nor holistic. The reason of this is the fact that some of its components require various rules of interpretation (e.g. neutrality concerning the political issues), whereas the other have not been regulated at all (e.g. the demands in respect to the candidates). For these reasons it was demanded to specify the legal status of the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces. 

The analysis contained in the subject matter article focuses on two linked matters, which is the detailed description of the entitled one to perfom the constiutional right to access public information and the evaluation of the judgement of the Constitutional Tribunal of December 2nd (SK 36/14), in which it claimed that the constitutional protection of the right to access public information (article 61 of the Polish Constitution) is exclusively reserved for the benefit of citizens. 

After the period of transformation in Poland, it was obvious that there is a huge need to secure freedom of assembly to polish nation. The Assembly Act of 1990 was established in result of efforts to reestablish the freedom of assembly, completely lost by Poles after Second World War. This act was constituted an important symbol of regained freedom, and was sufficient to exercise the freedom of assembly in the initial period of rebuilding democracy in our country. After some time, it began to require more and more changes. It ceased to comply with the growing demands of a developing social society. The amendments of Assembly Act was among others the consequence of the sentence of European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg and Polish Constitutional Tribunal. On 14 th of October 2015 the new Assemblies Act was set into force. In this article the Author analyses several significant changes in respect to the rules of organization and course of the assembly introduced in new law and tries to answer the question if that changes should be evaluated positively. The paper contains also an analyze of the newest amendments of law on public assembly, which has been adopted on 13 th December 2016 by Polish Sejm. MP’s have proposed among other to implement new kind of assembly called “cyclical”. Polish President Andrzej Duda filled the motion to Constitutional Tribunal in order to examine its compliance with Constitution.

Ensuring the security of the state is one of the primary responsibilities of its authorities, which can take a number of legal measures for that purpose. In this context, however,a question can be asked whether the protection of a value such as the security of the state can justify the limitation of human rights and freedoms and, if so, how deep such state’s interference in constitutionally protected rights and freedoms can be. In particular, can the basic human right – the right to life be scarified for the protection of the state security? The conflict between these values has been illustrated by the amendment of the Polish Aviation law adopted in 2004. It allowed under certain conditions to shoot down a civil aircraft with passengers on board. The regulation was subject to the constitutional review conducted by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal and was declared unconstitutional. However, the emergence of new forms of terrorism and the escalation of this phenomenon in Europe, which characterizes the beginning of the twenty-first century, cause that the problem still remains valid.

The aim of the article is to present results of the study done on voting papers in the National Archive in Kielce, that concerns the phenomenon and reasons of spoilt votes in the elections to voivodeship councils in 2014. 29 electoral districts that included: 10 districts from the Lesser Poland voivodeship, 7 from the Lublin voivodeship, 6 from Subcarpathian voivodeship and 6 from the Holy Cross voivodeship, were subjected to a de- tailed analysis. Apart from exact indication of the reasons for spoilt votes in elections to voivodeship councils themselves a detailed classification of those votes was done by dividing them into votes with excessive “x” signs, empty votes, votes with other signs than “x”, votes with multiple “x” signs and strikethroughs, protest votes and the so-called different votes. On this basis a description of regional differentiation of those votes was made. The whole study was done within the framework of the research project “Your vote, your choice”, realized by Stefan Batory Foundation in collaboration with the National Electoral Office, the National Election Commission and the Head Office of the State Archives.

RECENZJA

REVIEW

SPRAWOZDANIE

REPORT

SPRAWOZDANIE

REPORT

The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. Guard of the rules of the constitutional game, or state super-authority?

Bringing into prominence the role of the Constitutional Court in the German political system after 1949 is neither new, nor original. Already in the interwar period Hans Kelsen pointed out its significance, claiming that the political meaning of the idea of federalism found its completion precisely with the establishment of the constitutional jurisdiction. Arguments supporting the inclusion of the Federal Constitutional Court into the central governmental authorities can be found in essentially every elaboration on the subject. A deeper analysis, however, shows that including it among the central governmental authorities is not fully right. More so, it is unduly. The central authorities may only be those which act directly on the basis of the Basic Law. Therefore, unlike the chief authorities such as Bundestag, Bundesrat, the President of the Republic, and the federal government, the Tribunal does not autonomically delineate its own functioning. It does so on the basis of the ordinary law. This warrants the conclusion that this, frequently mentioned in the subject literature, duality of the Tribunal as a court and as a chief governmental authority, is, in the light of the above, impossible to reconcile.

Presidential supremacy over the armed forces in Poland after 1989

The primary purpose of considerations undertaken in this article is to identify and analyse the changes of the form and practice of presidential supremacy over the armed forces in Poland after 1989. Thanks to the findings of these consideration the author answered the following research questions: (1) how did presidential powers in the field of the supremacy over armed force change after 1989 (2) how did their practice change? (3) what influence did political practice have on presidential supremacy over armed forces? Thanks to the answers to these question the following hypothesis was verified: although about transformations and form of presidential supremacy over armed forces were determined by changes in the Constitution, very important in this area was also political practice, which decided about real participation of holder of the presidential office in the army management. Considerations have been divided into three parts, which describe the form and the practice of presidential supremacy over the armed forces during the functioning of: the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1952 (amended Constitution of the Polish People’s Republic), Constitutional Law of 17 October 1992 on the Mutual Relations between the Legislative and Executive of the Republic of Poland and local government, as well as the Polish Constitution of 1997. The conclusions of were presented at the end.

The guarantees of cultural rights in Polish law and international and European system of human rights protection – selected problems

This paper aims to provide a study on the scope of regulations of the cultural rights in Polish legal system, on the basis of Polish Constitution and statutory law, as well as in the international systems of human rights protection (UNO, the Council of Europe, the European Union). Detailed analysis of the regulations concerning II generation of human rights is presented. Due to the lack of the legal definition of culture, the catalogue of its components (or conducts) cannot be formed. Nevertheless, the legal and judicial protection of this elements can be partially guaranteed by other non-cultural regulations, which are indirectly associated with culture, like freedom of speech, freedom of religion or the protection of national and ethnic.

The admissibility of tapping in the penal proceeding in the light of the constitutional freedom and protection of secrecy of communication

The freedom of communication and the secrecy of correspondence is one of the basic civil freedoms and they play crucial roles in the democratical states. Of course, the already mentioned freedom and secrecy cannot be unlimitted. The article is focused on underlining the main limitations of the freedom and secrecy, which are a part of the polish penal proceeding. First of all, the article analyses the admissibility of control of telephone conversations, which is applied by national authorities. Secondly, the issue of illegal phone tapping by private person and admissibility of using the obtained informations as an evidence in the penal procedure are presented and analysed. The new aspect of penal procedure, which came into force on 1st July 2015, is presented in this context and its disadvantages are underlined. Finally, the article presents the new regulation – article 168a of the Penal Proceeding Code, which implements „the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine”. The author intends to prove the fact, that this amendment has significant impact on the rule of fair trail and is compliant with the principles of democratical state.

A bank enforcement title as an instrument of protection’s system of the right to ownership

An institution of a bank enforcement title stirs many controversies in the Polish legal doctrine. In addition it is a subject of a heat discussion among politicians, journalists and public opinion. The bank’s debtors are often required to submit themselves to enforcement of claims arising from their relationships with the bank. Notarial deeds are not required for such a submission, which makes the process more advantageous and less costly than the voluntary submission described above. In the event of default, the bank may issue a bank enforcement title on the basis of the debtor’s submission to enforcement. Such enforcement title is regulated in a detailed and strict manner by Polish Banking Law. In the paper the authors aimed at a scrutiny of a bank enforcement title on the ground of the right to ownership, protected by Polish Constitution of 1997. Taking into account axiology of the all legal system they do investigate constitutionality and then the purposefulness of the institution.

Trade Union Rights and Freedoms in the Constitution of April 2, 1997

The subject of this article is the analysis of the provisions made in the Constitution of April 2, 1997 on the freedoms and rights of trade unions in Poland. The constitutional concept of the freedom of association involves the freedom of forming trade unions and employers’ associations, the right to negotiate and finalise collective agreements, the right of collective bargaining, as well as the right to organize and participate in strikes and other forms of protest. These regulations assume not only the reduction of state interference in the formation and activity of trade unions, but it ensures the provision of appropriate legislative regulations, which grant trade unions adequate powers to allow for efficient action in the social and economic settings. In the author’s opinion, the provisions of the Constitution of April 2, 1997 offer a comprehensive protection of trade union rights and freedoms and the legislation is in accordance with international legal standards in this area.

Representation of the Member States in the European Council in the context of political principles

The article presents the principle of institutional representation in force in the EU in relation to the members of the European Council. The purpose of this article was the analysis of the principles for the participation of the Member States in the European Council, which was presented on the basis of their constitutional regulations. The first document of the European Communities, which regulates the composition of the European Council, was the Single European Act. Subsequent reform treaties complemented and modified the board of the institution. The article analyzes the conditions for the representation of Member States in the European Council by the heads of governments or states, based on the constitutional principles of the representative Members. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the choice of a representative in the European Council belongs to the exclusive competence of the EU Member States. This choice is largely conditioned by the principles of the political system – the form of government and political system in force in the Member State concerned. A vast majority – twenty-two EU member states are represented in the European Council by the heads of their governments. Four Member States are represented by their heads of state, while the Federal Chancellor is the representative of two Member States in the European Council. Each change in terms of the political system of a Member State can be made only on the grounds of constitutional provisions.

VARIA

RECENZJA

REVIEW

RECENZJA

REVIEW

DLA AUTORÓW

FOR AUTHORS

Temporary impossibility of performing the functions by the Polish President under the Constitution and the new Constitutional Tribunal Act

This paper discusses temporary impossibility of performing the functions by the Polish President. The Polish Constitution defines three kinds of such impossibility. First of all, there are situations when the President may inform about this impossibility, secondly – when s/he cannot do this, and thirdly – the President may be suspended because of being arraigned before the State Tribunal. Each of these situations is considered in the paper, one by one. The author refers, among others, to the grounds on which impossibility of performing the functions by the Polish President is declared and analyses in detail the provisions of the new Constitutional Tribunal Act concerning this issue. The author’s comments are accompanied by related conclusions and suggestions concerning the amendment of both the Polish Constitution and the said act.

Obtaining judgments of common and administrative courts under the law on access to public information

The purpose of this article is to examine, whether the amendment to the law on access to public information, dated on November 7 th , 2014, directly recognizing the content of judgments for public information, is in accordance with the existing line of case law and views of doctrine. At the same time the article is an invitation to discussion under what circumstances and in what form a refusal to provide the court judgment is allowed, especially for the sake of protection of privacy of individuals or in the case of request for processed information. This research is conducted with the use of legal dogmatic and descriptive method. The key assumption of this article is to state that the content of judgments is an example of simple (unprocessed) public information. Access to public information is not an absolute right, ergo it is subject to restrictions, among which the Author devotes special attention to the protection of privacy. Finally, it should be noted that in some cases, even anonymization of content of the judgment or refusal to make it available may in fact make the protection of privacy only illusory. It is therefore desirable to clarify by the legislator or case law the procedure for access to content of court judgments.

Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms as a fundamental instrument of the European law – does this statement still remain valid?

Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is often referred as a fundamental instrument of the European law. The following study, through a detailed description of the circumstances of creation of the Convention, its normative content, enforcement mechanism and the current context in which it is in force, seeks to demonstrate whether the above statement remains valid in the current political and legal reality. It is true that in the Convention sovereign states accepted for the first time legal obligations to secure the classical human rights and freedoms and – what is particularly relevant – to allow all individuals to bring applications against the state, leading to a specially founded international judicial body finding them in breach. This was a crucial, revolutionary step in the evolution of the international law that, for centuries, had been based on such deeply entrenched foundations as the ideas that the settlement of the freedoms and rights of individuals was within the domestic jurisdiction of states and that individuals were not subjects of rights in this law. The Convention has thus generated the effective enforcement mechanism in the world, which contribution to the setting of standards for the protection of human rights and freedoms is unrivalled. However, it cannot be lost from one’s sight that currently the presence of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in the European legal space and the weakness of the Council of Europe, under of which auspices the European Convention on Human Rights was adopted, manifesting itself in the fact that it associates a large number of countries with quite diverse political and legal culture and the standards of democracy, make the practical importance of the Convention be the subject of constant verification.

Constitutional requirements of access to civil service in the light of the Polish Constitution of 2nd April 1997

The major interest of the article’s author is the issue of citizenship as a condition limiting access to civil service. Joining the European Union by Poland has resulted in a fact that Poland has been bound by Community regulations, which, because of the principle of primacy of Community law, have a privileged position over national regulations. One of the bedrocks of the internal common market is the free movement of people. The freedom in regulations has been limited with regards to the employment in public administration. However, it must be noted that, according to the well-founded judicature in this area, employment in public administration should be highly defined, that is as execution of public powerand functions aimed at the protection of general interests of the state. In this area, the national legislator has a right to limit the access to employment in public administration to its own citizens only.

The legal basis for international activity of local government units

The growing interest in establishing contacts with foreign entities justifies presentation of legal basis for international activity of local government. The article analyses the relevant provisions of the Constitution of Republic of Poland, constitutional local government laws, other relevant national laws, public international law and EU law.

The formula of fixed-term parliament in Great Britain and its constitutional implications

The article raises an issue of legal construction of cadence of the House of Commons under the regime of the Fixed-term Parliament Act 2011. The author examines the legal rules included in the bill, showing all the constitutional consequances that they trigger. First, he makes an explanation what was the change that the lawmaker has decided to apply. Second, he also depicts the results of abolishing the prerogative of monarch for dissolving parliament. Finally, he performs the new procedures on the dissolving parliament, which he makes with an assumption to put emphasis on the meaning of these rules for the constitutional system on the Thames.

The evolution of the European Parliament as an institution in the legislation of the European Union and the status of its members – selected issues

The article presents the evolution of the mandate of a Member of Parliament from the beginning of its development as an institution of the European Union. PE began to take shape already in 1949 due to the changes that followed as a result of the formation of the European Communities.It is believed that, its benchmark was a Consultation Assembly of the Council of Europe which was brought into being in 1949. Moreover, its beginnings can be associated with Paris Treaty signed on 18 April 1951. Under this treaty the European Union of Coal and Steel was created. European Parliament Deputies` status was assigned by the Decision of Council of the European Union concerning an election of members of the European Parliament in general elections (76/787/EWWiS, EWG, Euratom), Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities, the Regulations of the European Parliament and the European Parliament decision on the adoption of the status of Members of the European Parliament. The purpose of this article is to show the changes that have since the beginning of the formation of the EP followed in EU legislation, in relation to the EP and how legislation is shaped mandate of its members. The basic thesis of this article is how the process of evolution PE over the years, has changed its position in the EU institutional system, and how over the years, regulated the issue of the mandate and status of its deputies. The article is also of evolutionary political position of the EP and the status of its members. The analysis, applicable to several common problems associated with the evolution of EU legislation, the institution of free mandate of MEP over the years.

Legal status of akyjkatczy (ombudsman) in the Kyrgyz Republic

This study aims to present and assess the legal framework for the institution of ombudsman in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. The study fills a gap in the legal literature, because there are currently no legal studies on the institution of ombudsman and human rights issues in this country. Several questions are raised, in particular: what are the characteristics of Kyrgyz ombudsman, what are the formal requirements to be met by the candidates for this position, what are the rules for their appointment and dismissal, and finally, what instruments were introduced by the Kyrgyz legislator to guarantee the independence and impartiality of the akyjkatczy what are their powers, and are these powers sufficient to carry out tasks related to the protection of the rights and freedoms? This analysis will provide a basis to assess the Kyrgyz ombudsman model and to answer whether the Kyrgyz legislature implements the Paris Principles provided for ombudsman institutions.

The constitutional principle of free enterprise vs the constitutional regulation of environmental protection

Therein paper adressed the presentation of the constitutional principle of free enterprise vs. environmental protection. The issue of both questions considerate on the constitutional norms of legal system. The proportionality issue, which is based on admission in the limited of above matters, was displayed on the selected examples from judicature and doctrine. On one side, paper illustrates primacy effect of the free of enterprise. On the other, lack of the legislative norms or partial regulations concerning with environmental protection, indicate the inability of realization environmental tasks effectively. It concludes that in certain cases free of enterprise evinces a farreaching value than environmental protection.

RECENZJA

REVIEW

RECENZJA

REVIEW

SPRAWOZDANIE

REPORT

DLA AUTORÓW

FOR AUTHORS

Constitutional basis of the right to a fair trial (principle of statutory regulation of the judiciary)

The article emphasizes the importance of multidimensional character of principle of statutory regulation of the judiciary. The principle is recognized as an important element of the right to a fair trial. It guarantees judicial independence. The principle bindfulfilling of the judiciary power with the will of the Nation. However recent political crisis connected with the Constitutional Court indicates that the statutes regulating the position of the judiciary should correspond with the substantive and formal constitutional requirements.

SŁOWO WSTĘPNE

INTRODUCTION

The limits of legislator’s leeway in regulation of the constitutional right to a fair trial

In Article 45 section 1 and Article 77 section 2 of the Constitution enacts the right to court understood as the right of access to a court, i.e. the right to initiate proceedings before a court, the right to frame a judicial procedure in accordance with the requirements of fairness and transparency, the right to a ruling by independent and impartial court, i.e. the right to obtain a binding resolution of the case by the court within a reasonable period of time and prohibition of disabling legal means serving the pursuit of constitutional rights and freedoms. The right to a fair trial is not absolute and may be restricted by using the rules set out in Article 31 section 3 of the Constitution (restriction can be introduced by statue only when it is justified in democratic state of law it is necessary to secure protection, public order, protection of the environment, health, public morality, and must not violate the essence of the rights and freedoms).

Right to a fair trial as an individual right and a guarantee of the horizontal application of rights and freedoms

The article discusses a right to a fair trial as a personal right that is a subject to limitations provided by the Constitution and as a guarantee of the horizontal application of rights and freedoms. The author analysis four elements of a right to a fair trial, namely a right of access to a court, a right to due process, a right to the final decision and a right to a proper judicial system. A right to a fair trial is applied directly, unless the Constitution provides otherwise. Its three forms are distinguished, namely autonomous application of the Constitution, co-application of the Constitution and a statute (or another normative act) and control application. Among positive obligations of the State there is the duty to ensure a right to a fair trial in case of the violation of constitutional rights by other subjects, including private subjects.

The right to a fair administrative trial in the light of the standards arising from the Article 45 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland

The Article 45 of the Polish Constitution establishes the right to a fair trial. It means that everyone shall have the right to a fair and public hearing of his case, without undue delay, before a competent, impartial and independent court. The right to a fair administrative trial has special character because it is used for protection different human right and obligations that arise from public law (especially administrative and tax law). Implementation of this rules in administrative courts differs from realizing the right in civil and criminal courts. In administrative cases the organ of public administration violates law and because of this, it is one of the parts of the court trial. The administrative courts investigate only legality of act of public administration. Courts are able to annul invalid acts without changing its essence. So administrative courts do not directly effects on individuals rights, freedoms and obligations. Judges are bind by the principle of objective (material) truth, so they are suppose to examine each elements of a case especially facts and related legal norms. The author of the article describes elements and characteristics of the right to a fair administrative trial. There is a description of the personal and objective scope of the right as well.

The right to a fair trial in criminal cases in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland

The Constitutionally guaranteed “right to a fair trial” depends on the specific nature of a case which is taken before a court. The paper analyses the real scope of this one of the fundamental human rights in criminal cases. In the first part of the article the concept of “criminal case” is defined on the basis of jurisprudence of the Constitutional Tribunal. Then the objective and subjective scope of the above mentioned right in criminal cases is laid down and analysed its detailed elements: access to court, the right to a fair proceedings and the right to be heard within a reasonable time. The article also points out that the scope of “the right to a fair trial” is different for the victim and the accused according to the model of prosecution procedure. The specific emphasis is placed on to the right to a fair proceedings and the need to balance procedural rights of the parties and the interests of justice. In conclusion it is emphasised that the Constitutional Tribunal does not fully take into account the changes in the criminal law, which could lead to an actual limitation of the entity’s procedural guarantees under an Article 45 paragraph 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.

Constitutionality of limitations on right to a fair trial in cases concerning protection of competition and consumers

The article discusses de lege lata limitations regarding the constitutionally protected right to fair trial, with particular attention to matters regarding competition and consumer protection. An assessment is performed of the constitutionality of solutions adopted by the Polish legislator, and the constitutionally defined contours of the right to court in that category of cases is elaborated. The author reflects on the existing system of judicial review, considering whether it is not dysfunctional in some of its aspects, and how it could be replaced by another system for protecting the rights of enterprises; primarily these divagations address protection of procedural rights in a manner compliant with the Constitution of Poland, more specifically the right to court.

The right to a fair trial in the context of supervision over the administrative activities of courts

This article refers to one of aspects of the right to a fair trial – the right of access to the independent court authority. There are serious doubts about the constitutionality of new legislation concerning activities called administrative activities of a court. The supervision over that kind of courts’ activities became one of duties of Ministry of Justice. The author describes basic rules of above mentioned supervision and deliberates over the problem if they could be consistent with the constitutional rule of separation of powers.

Right to court in Germany

The term ‘right to court’ is not used by the German constitutional law doctrine. However, the expressions ‘the principle of effective legal protection’ or ‘claim for ensuring justice’ should be treated as its equivalents. German Basic Law does not contain any general provision proclaiming right to court and determining its essential elements. However, ensuring effective judicial protection is considered to be a general constitutional principle and a constitutional right of an individual. It is also acknowledged that everyone has access to court. The latter is supplemented by Article 101, 103 and 104 of German Constitution, which prohibit creation of extraordinary courts and provides that everyone has a right to ‘the statutory judge’ and right to be heard. Moreover the Federal Constitutional Court perceives the rule of law clause as a source of the right to a fair trial. In general it is accepted in Germany that the constitutional standards refering to administration of justice satisfy international standards and in some cases even exceed them. Practical problems in their implementation concern mainly the right to have the case heard in a reasonable time.

Right to a fair trial in Italy

The access to justice is expressed directly in the part one of the Constitution of the Italian Republic of 1947, entitled “The rights and duties of citizens”. In accordance with Article 24 paragraph. 1 of the Constitution, “everyone can take judicial action to protect individual rights and legitimate interests”. It should be noted that it is a wide range of subjective and objective constitutional regulation, in particular, on the right of access to court, the right to defense and right to a fair and due process (Article 111 of the Constitution). The biggest disadvantages that arises from the functioning of the Italian justice system are multiple violations of the right to a trial within a reasonable time and the usage of the cassation, as a court of third instance. Many attempts to correct the Italian judiciary have been made, for example by the introduction of Pinto Law of 2001, which gives litigants the right to the compensation in case of excessively lengthy judicial proceedings. However, it did not have the expected effect of speeding up the court proceedings because of the lack of necessary judiciary reforms (complicated structures and a large number of courts, traditionally low court fees etc.). The impact of the Law was The result of the Law is further increase in the number of cases and budgetary costs. The inefficiency of Italian justice system is needed to be reformed.

Problem of the organisational and procedural standards concerning judicial system in the case law of the French Constitutional Council

The aim of this article is to outline the content of a constitutional right to judicial protection in France. Thus far, the subject matter has not received much attention in Polish legal literature. It cannot be denied, however, that from the point of view of comparative legal scholarship, France is one of the most relevant points of reference. As the right to judicial protection has not been clearly expressed in any of constitutional acts of the V th Republic, the author has focused on the case-law of the French constitutional court – the Constitutional Council, by reconstructing main elements of the right under consideration. At the same time, scholarly obstacles resulting from the specificity of the French constitutional system have been given due consideration: the laconic wording of constitutional texts, the conciseness of reasons for Constitutional Council’s decisions, as well as the lack of methodological clarity and terminological coherence of its jurisprudence. All of the above difficulties notwithstanding, it has been possible to indicate essential elements of the right to judicial protection: 1) the principle of impartiality and independence of a judicial body (associated immanently with performing judicial functions), 2) the right to an effective judicial remedy, 3) the right to a fair trial, as well as 4) the right of defense. Special derivative guarantees result from these requirements. In its most recent jurisprudence, the Constitutional Council has associated the specific rights and principles of which the right to judicial protection is composed with Article 16 of the Declaration of Rights of 1789. According to this provision, public authorities have a duty to implement the separation of powers and to guarantee the protection of rights to individuals. Without the right to judicial protection there would be no separation of powers nor any guarantees of rights, hence there would be no constitution in such a state.

Right to obtain the effective protection of the Judges and the Courts in the exercise of individual legitimate rights and interests – considerations about Art. 24 of Spanish Constitution

The right to the fair trial, also called in Spain as a “right-star” (derecho-estrella), is regarded as a basic and unalterable guarantee of human rights. It was regulated in detail in the Spanish Constitution, and is recognized as a set of legal guarantees. These guarantees – from the very beginning of the functioning of the Constitutional Court – were related to each phase and type of litigation. Thanks to the fast universalization of the right, this “right-star” is analyzed not only by the representatives of the doctrine of the constitutional law, but also of the procedural criminal law, the civil law and the administrative law. The greatest importance for the understanding the Spanish view of the right to the fair trial has the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court which for more than two decades has been interpreted dynamically the above mentioned right.

The right to a fair administrative trial in the light of the standards arising from the Article 45 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland

The aim of the paper is to analyze and criticly assess the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights concerning the applicability of the Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights to national legal procedings. The latter provision refers to cases in which the civil rights and obligations of individual or any criminal charge against him are determined. The author discusses the criteria which enable to qualify the case as civil or criminal in the autonomous meaning of the European Convention on Human Rights. She accepts in general the approach of the European Court of Human Rights, but underlines a need for further clarifications of applied criteria, to avoid inconsistence and allow the future case-law to be predictable.

Polish Constitutional Tribunal towards European standards of the right to a fair trial

The Constitutional Tribunal (TK) does not exercise justice, however, it is a judicial authority. The right to request an examination of compatibility of the normative act with the Constitution is today an integral part of the democratic rule of law and the right to court. As the analysis of the case law of the Constitutional Tribunal shows, the Polish constitutional court applies the standards of the right to a fair trial established under the Convention and the Charter as well as refers to the case law of the European Courts including the interpretation of the relevant provisions of international law. This practice should be assessed unambiguously positive, because it leads to the creation of a common standard of protection of fundamental rights in the European Union. However respecting the ECHR case-law makes necessary to recognize that in proceedings related to the specific constitutional control before Constitutional Tribunal should be applied the guarantees arising from Art. 6 of the Convention. It is obvious that the TK as a court of law not facts cannot be treated as another instance of appeal and a constitutional complaint should not be used as an instrument for correcting mistakes made in the earlier stages of the proceedings. However, the constitutional position of TK among the judiciary, the legislative shape of the proceedings before the Tribunal, and finally the status of TK judges allow – in my opinion – to put forward the thesis of the need for abandonment of the European standards of the right to a fair trial before TK. Standards that according to the TK case law, are also guaranteed by the provisions of the Constitution.

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania and European Standards of the Right to Court

The purpose of this article is to analyse the constitutional basis for the activity the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania and to represent the functions of this Court in respect of the harmonization of national and transnational defence mechanisms of human right to a fair trial. The article is divided into several basic parts: first of all, it shows the constitutional grounds for the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, the creation and the relevant characteristics of its status and activities; later, the article discusses the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania, which analyses the right to a fair trial; the article ends with an assessment of the impact of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union for the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court while defending the right to a fair trial.

SPRAWOZDANIE

REPORT

The amendments to the Polish electoral law from 2015

In 2015 Polish electoral code was amended by force of the three laws. In this article I will examine a catalog of the most important changes in the Polish electoral law signaled from the three laws amending it. The amendment to the Electoral Code made in 2015. Adopted the changes of various specific gravity. Some of them are technical (eg. voting cards, transparent ballot boxes), the evidence (the possibility of recording the work of electoral commissions), complementary (reference to the relevant provisions on the validity of elections to councils in respect of the election of the executive bodies of municipalities and cities, the tasks of National Electoral Commission), to the systemic (defining term of office of the members of the NEC). Although the need for certain amendments was postulated by some doctrine, it is frequent amendments of the electoral law should be regarded as a manifestation of its instrumentalization.

Whether the Electoral Code of 5th January 2011 could be changed during the emergency state? Comments based on the provision of the Article 228 section 6 of the Polish Constitution

The article deals with the question, whether the limitation of particular laws’ amendments, sourced from the provision of the Article 228 section 6 of the Polish Constitution, covers the provisions of the Electoral Code or could that Code be changed during the state of emergency. The question is especially significant, because the above mention provision uses term of ‘electoral ordinance’ which is not used in the title of that Code. Formal and strict reconsideration of that’s question could mislead us to the conclusion, which says that the Codes’ changes are acceptable during the state of emergency. The Author, falsifying that thesis, advocates in favor of other conception, which explicitly express that neither the Codes’ nor its executives acts’ changes are acceptable during the state of emergency. The same limitation binds all legislative works connected with those legal acts, which shall be suspended.

DLA AUTORÓW

FOR AUTHORS

SPIS TREŚCI

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Election Code – abuse of advertising during the election period

The issue presented in this thesis generally concerns equality before the law of all entities taking part in elections at various levels: voters and politicians. The term „equality” in article 32 paragraph 1 of the constitutions is commonly interpreted as a universal principle covering everyone, including natural and juridical persons, as well as institutions without a legal personality, regardless of other factors such as citizenship. In addition, the literature of constitutional law provides for equality before the law. The simplest, yet most accurate interpretation of the article is the principle of equality, that is the same, where the voice of every voter has the same strength. Therefore, can one be a candidate in elections and legally conduct advertisement for one’s own company at the same time? The problems presented concern both seasoned politicians as well as known public figures who are trying for local government positions, and candidates who are not yet public figures but conduct legal business activities. Inconsistent interpretation of the law compels citizens to legally notify the authorities about any believed offence and at the same time compels law enforcement to act on those notifications. Because of the facts mentioned above a person conducting business activitiess and advertising those business activities during an elections campaign can become a victim of persecution at hands of state institutions or a media witch-hunt.

The principle of the secular nature of the state in the Constitution and the case-law of the Constitutional Court of Italy

The article presents the constitutional principle of the secular nature of the state in the light of selected decisions issued by the Constitutional Court of Italy. Although the Constitution does not specify the said principle, its contents follow from the constitutional law decisions and doctrine. Despite the scope of the issue having been determined over the past few decades, it is continually subject to incessant transformation due to the ever-changing political conditions of the Italian state. The Italian model of secularism designates the legal system of the state and public administration institutions. It also guarantees constitutional equality and freedom and adopts a favourable attitude as far as religious issues are concerned. Also of significance here are conflicts of interests arising from the secular nature of the state. They are often the cause of heated debates and lead to undermining the social and political equilibrium.

Concordat system in secular French Republic. The problem of the constitutionality of the model of relations between churches and state assumed in departments of: Haut-Rhine, Bas-Rhine and Moselle

France is the only European country in which the Constitution explicitly underlines the rule of the secular state. It is then difficult to understand why in 3 French departments (i.e. Haut-Rhin, Bas-Rhin, Moselle) the relations between state and churches are regulated in the law which introduces into force the stipulations of Napoleon’s Concordat from 1801. In these departments the state officially recognizes 4 confessions and even grants them some privileges. In Alsace religious science is taught in public schools, Faculty of Theology of the University of Strasbourg issues diplomas recognized by the state and remuneration of priests is paid from state’s budget. Thus, it is should be determined, whether the existence of the specific „concordat regime” in 3 eastern departments is reconcilable with the constitutional rules such as: equality before the law and the rule of secular state. Until 2010 this problem could not have been examined by French constitutional court (because of the lack of the a posteriori control of the constitutionality of the law in French legal system at that time). Unfortunately, it must be stated, that the decisions of the Constitutional Council that were made after 2010 did not convincingly clarify doubts concerning the constitutionality of the model of church-state relations in 3 French eastern departments.