One of the scientifically interesting questions is explaining the functioning and effectiveness of the minority government. An analysis of Polish governments (1989–2007) finds mixed support for the importance of parliamentary procedural mechanisms. Yet an analysis of the Polish government after the collapse of communism reveals that a governing party with a central position in the party system can indeed shift alliances and maintain quite effective governance. Additionally, the evidence indicates that minority governments may also rely on alliances across parliament deputies who want prolong the term of office as long as possible. The article concentrates also on duration and legislative effectiveness of Polish minority cabinets.

The main purpose of this article is to demarcate the influence of Catholic interest groups in Poland on the attempts to introduce legislation that would regulate the legal status of civil unions. Catholic interest groups are defined as an association of individuals, organisations or institutions which articulate postulates of the Catholic Church. In order to fulfil their agendas, these groups, especially pro-life groups, apply various methods of lobbying, persuasion or moral sanction. The article includes the author’s own typology of influence of these groups on political institutions and their environment. Selected methods of influence were applied during debates in the Sejm on the draft bills concerning legalization of civil unions, including those between people of the same sex. Catholic interest groups opposed those regulations.

In this article, the author tries to point out the problems of the legal system and democratic society after 1989 in the condition of Slovak Republic and ultimately almost in all the countries of post-Communist period. The aim of this work is to point out the development of justice and judicial authorities in Slovakia since 1989 and its current state. The result should be the naming of all elements influencing the judiciary, decision-making activity of court in the context of the directive and the rules of the European Community. The next point is the description of the independence and connection of the judiciary and its offices to state power and related isues. Also, the autor describes to the establishment of the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic as the highest office of the judiciary in the Slovak Republic, its competences, powers and functioning. In the same way there are listed other offices without which the judiciary as such could not function like Prosecutor’s Office of the Slovak Republic, Slovak Bar Association, Notary Chamber of the Slovak Republic and Slovak Chamber of Executors. At the end of the article the author evaluates the development of justice in the context of an ever-evolving democratic society.

The article is devoted to the study of the regulatory framework for evaluating the activities of civil servants in Ukraine. In particular, the Law of Ukraine «On Civil Service» is analyzed, as well as the «Procedure for evaluation of civil servants performance results». The purpose of the article is to systematize the principles, procedures and features of evaluating the activities of civil servants, which should help increase the effectiveness of their professional competencies, as well as the functioning of personnel management services in public institutions. The research methodology is based on systemic and structuralfunctional approaches. One of the tasks of the study is to identify the negative aspects of current legislation. It is proved that the procedure of appealing the negative conclusion of the evaluation of the performance of a civil servant needs to be clarified, as well as the algorithm of his/her dismissal in case of receiving a negative evaluation. The peculiarities of evaluating the performance of civil servants who hold public office positions of category «A», «B» and «С» are analyzed.

This article aims to analyze the approach of Polish parliamentary parties to the anti-abortion legislation in 1991-2019 on the level of their ideological programmes. Classification of political parties concerning their ideological families has been proposed. Next, the article presents a typology based on the party’s attitude to the discussed problem, distinguishing the following categories of parties: the proponents of apportioning, the opponents of abortion, heterogeneous parties, and parties that do not express an opinion on this issue.

The article conducts a comprehensive study of public information and communication space in Ukraine, analyzes its current state considering regulatory and organizational features, identifies key challenges for quality development and modernization of the industry, and identifies key dysfunctional problems that prevent high performance in domestic development of information and communication technologies. It is argued that an important role in the constructive formation of the public information and communication sector is played by the state information policy, which should be based on such principles as openness, system, equality of interests, priority of domestic producers, social orientation. It turns out that the formation of a quality public information space contributes to the development of civil society, information society and information democracy. Comprehensive digitalization of public communication will promote openness, transparency and accessibility of public information, the formation of partnerships between the public, business, and civil sectors. Three basic stages of formation of information and communication space have been identified: strategic, organizational and control ones.

Udział organów władzy w stanowieniu prawa na Węgrzech

Na Węgrzech organem władzy ustawodawczej jest Parlament. Według regulacji Konstytucji węgierskiej kompetencję do uchwalania ustawodawstwa przysługuje Parlamentowi, najwyższemu organowi reprezentacji ludowej. Przedmiotem artykułu jest przedstawienie roli organu władzy ustawodawczej w procesie ustawodawczym. Autorzy odwołują się również do udziału innych organów władzy państwowej w stanowieniu prawa.

Legislative Veto of the President of the Republic of Poland in Political Practice

The aim of the article is to analyze the legislative veto of the President of the Republic of Poland and his relationship with the Sejm. The study indicates the constitutional regulation concerning the presidential veto and the legislative process. The author’s intention was to show that the President’s veto may affect the fate of the act, but also the government’s policy. Such a situation takes place if the President’s veto concerns a bill submitted to the Sejm on the initiative of the Council of Ministers. The institution of the President’s legislative veto was analyzed in terms of theory and its practical functioning in political practice, as well as how the veto is used by a person holding the office of the President. In order to better illustrate the title issue, the activities of the presidents of the Republic of Poland since passed of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland have been briefly presented.

Legislation on Family Fideicommissa in the Second Polish Republic

The article describes the creation and content of legal regulations in the Second Polish Republic regarding a special institution, which were family fideicommissa (entails), called in Poland ordynacje rodowe – indivisible estates in the hands of aristocratic families, excluded from the general principles of inheritance, with restrictions in the field of, i.a., disposition and charging. The author proves that the legislation in this respect was influenced by the then agrarian policy and attempts to regulate the land reform. Family laws were perceived in particular as a relic of feudalism contrary to the constitutional order and a policy aimed at basing the agricultural structure on middle and small property and thus raising the social and economic status of the poor masses of Polish peasants. The author describes political postulates in this regard, successive legal acts created by the legislature and the accompanying parliamentary discussions.

Today, information and communication technologies are widely used in all spheres of public life; state policy is gradually gaining publicity and social accessibility; it becomes possible for society to actively participate in globalization policies and processes; the digitalization of public services is globalized and covers the whole world, which indicates a netocratic vector of development of modern society. Given the pace of development of globalized e-democracy and the world’s efforts for socio-economic recovery, it is necessary to update the priorities of digital governance in order to increase trust in governments and state institutions, and for this it is necessary to create effective legislation that determines the possibility of forming a perfect governance system and regulatory state policy in the field of e-democracy. The article considers domestic legislative acts designed to regulate and streamline management processes in the conditions of netocracy of society, to ensure their consistency, stability, balance (laws of Ukraine: «On Information », «On Information Protection in Information and Communication Systems», «On the National Informatization Program», «On Electronic Documents and Electronic Document Management», «On Electronic Digital Signature», «On Electronic Trust Services», «On State Registration of Legal Entities, Individuals – Enterprises and Public Formations», «On telecommunications», «On the licensing system in the field of economic activity», «On the Fundamentals of the Development of the Information Society in Ukraine for 2007–2015», «On the Protection of Personal Data», etc.). An analysis of the indicated domestic legislative framework indicates a quantitative growth and improvement of regulatory documents covering the digital spheres of public administration. It has been established that the issue of harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with world legal norms remains important.

The article deals with the concept of fiduciary activity of an attorney-at-law. The author analyzes foreign experience, in particular, the EU and the USA on fiduciary activity, and conducts a comparative legal analysis. The author examines the prospects for introducing such activities into national legislation on the advocacy. The author focuses on European legislation, in particular, the Common Code of Practice for Lawyers of the European Community. The author examines in detail the procedure for fiduciary activities in the EU and the USA, with special attention paid to the procedure for providing such activities by attorneys. The author emphasizes the advantages and disadvantages of fiduciary activities in foreign countries. The author examines the draft amendments to the national legislation on the Advocacy regarding the introduction of fiduciary activities. The author emphasizes that although the experience of foreign countries with regard to fiduciary activities is quite positive, one should not try to quickly and blindly implement European standards into national legislation, as this will take time. The author determines that a lawyer who manages client’s funds in the course of performing professional duties in the territory of one of the Community States must comply with the rules for managing client’s funds and maintaining financial records established by the competent authorities of the State of registration. The author of the article also establishes that the competent authorities of all Community countries have the right to control and confidentially examine the financial documents of an attorney-at-law on the client’s funds placed at his disposal in order to identify cases of violation of the rules to be observed by the attorney- at-law and to impose sanctions on him in case of the above violations. The advocate, who manages the client’s funds in the course of the performance of his or her professional duties in the territory of one of the Community states, shall comply with the rules for the management of client’s funds and the maintenance of financial records established by the competent authorities of the state of registration.