The Ombudsman and the Organs of Judicial Power

The author shows that, in order to protect rights and freedoms, the Ombudsman, with the help of various instruments and depending on the infringements found, undertakes actions with organs of the judiciary, on which obligations concerning the protection of human rights and other subjects have been imposed. This article reviews the forms of the Ombudsman’s relations with the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Constitutional Tribunal, and common courts. Their aim is to raise the level of respect for human and civil rights. In this context the thesis of the article is as follows: in view of structural, legal and organisational defects of the state, the Ombudsman notes that new threats to human and civil rights appear, freedoms or rights granted to them are often taken away in a manner inconsistent with constitutional standards, and public authorities exceed the sphere of their powers in an expcessive manner. Allegations made in complaints against public authorities are often verified by the Ombudsman in the course of inquiries with his participation. The Ombudsman keeps his distance from these bodies, which enables him to influence them in the field of human rights protection, and above all to influence the individuals subordinate to them.

Extraordinary Complaint as an Instrument for Controlling the Compliance of Final Judgments with Art. 2 of the Constitution of Poland

The Supreme Court is responsible for administering justice through extraordinary control of final court judgments in order to ensure their compliance with art. 2 of the Polish Constitution. In this paper, the research hypothesis is the significance of the functioning of an extraordinary complaint due to the principle of a democratic state ruled by law that it affirms. The research hypothesis was verified by the method of analyzing the functioning of an extraordinary complaint. Considerations on the basis of the judgment of the Supreme Court of May 8, 2019, file ref. no. I NSNc 2/19 allowed to confirm the hypothesis and to draw a conclusion that the protection afforded by the presented control measure is an important instrument for supporting effective administration of justice, and the presented task of the Supreme Court concerning the compliance of judgments with Art. 2 of the Constitution is an important and necessary competence.