Time limits are a normative approach to time, the passing of time is then a legal event (an element of a legal event). The provisions of the 1997 Constitution repeatedly use different types of time limits, but do not indicate how they are calculated. It seems that the time limits specified in days, months and years should be calculated according to computatio civilis, thus taking into account certain conventional rules. Such a time limit ends at the end of the last day of the time limit, but usually starts at the beginning of the day following the day the event, with which the legal provision relates the beginning of the time limit, occurred. Time limits determined using shorter time units (e.g. in hours) should be calculated according to computatio naturalis, i.e. strictly from one moment to another. Such conclusions can be reached using various methods of interpretation, but the most appropriate seems to be the use of analogy from the law.

Mediation committee in the parliament

The subject of the article is the possibility of establishing a mediation committee in the Polish parliament. It is a special type of parliamentary committee responsible for resolving disputes between parliamentary chambers. The need to establish such committee results from the fact that the Senate exercises a number of constitutional powers independently of the Sejm. They include, among others, approval of the election of the Commissioner for Citizens’ Rights made by the Sejm. This issue became the subject of a long dispute in the Polish parliament. Solutions to this type of problem could be served by a mediation committee composed of representatives of both chambers, which main task would be to work out a compromise solution in the dispute between the Sejm and the Senate. The mediation committee could also facilitate the legislative procedure in the parliament, although in this case the final vote almost always belongs to the Sejm, which may reject amendments or the Senate’s objection to the bill.