On the Eve of the Birth of the Modern Doctrine of the Legal State? The Attitude of Polish Liberals to the Idea of the Rule of Law at the Beginning of the 19th Century

The article analyzes the problem of the attitude towards the idea of the rule of law of representatives of the Polish elite at the beginning of the 19th century. The author presents the development of the idea of the rule of law in the introduction. He verifies the thesis that the ideological basis for the concept of the rule of law was the Enlightenment thought on the basis of which the liberal doctrine developed. He used it to seek an answer to the question about the characteristics of the model of government established by the Constitution of the Kingdom of Poland of 1815. The author attempted to prove that, since the Kingdom (existing until 1831) with one of the most liberal constitutions in the first half of the 19th century was in force, then this act met all the conditions required for the establishment of the rule of law according to the standards adopted in that century. These considerations conclude with remarks on the further evolution of Polish liberal thought in the 1820s. It began to differ from the liberal assumptions on which the German Rechtstaat doctrine was built. Paradoxically, Rechtstaat concept had much more in common to Polish liberalism in the earlier (proto-liberal) stage of its development in the times of the Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815) than of the Kingdom of Poland (1815–1831).

Russia’s Constitutional Reform of 2020

In 2020 took place the most serious constitutional reform in the Russian Federation. The amendments result in the strengthening of the President in the political system, enable V. Putin to maintain power until 2034 and introduce some other significant changes. The aim of the following paper is to present the circumstances of the reform, the contents of the amendments, and their overall summary. Particular attention was paid to the following issues: relations among main institutions of state power, the place of international law in the sources of Russia’s law and other amendments related to constitutional identity and axiology. The reform results in strengthening the position of the President, even though still within the semi-presidential model of the political system, the diminished role of the Parliament, local self-government and deprivation of the autonomy of the judiciary.

Victimless crimes in the light of the Polish Constitution and the jurisprudence of Constitutional Court

The term “victimless crimes” is one of the leading concepts of American criminology, also used by libertarian circles. It assumes that acts that do not cause harm to the other person (or are made with his consent) should be legal. This theory has also found a resonance in American constitutionalism, whereas in Polish science of constitutional law this concept is virtually unknown. The case law of the Constitutional Tribunal is also more conservative and paternalistic than libertarian. The Tribunal did not consider unconstitutional provisions to drive a car with fastened seatbelts. Possession of marijuana for own use also, in the Court’s opinion, may also be prohibited by Polish law and the justification used typical conservative arguments. The Polish Constitution also protects public morality, which is in direct contradiction to libertarianism. The author of the concept, Edwin Schur, also considered abortion as “victimless crime”. The Constitutional Tribunal has an extremely different position, recognizing the need to protect unborn life. The axiology of the Polish Constitution is closer to the same spirit of Christian democracy than to extreme liberalism.

Popular Sovereignty in the Political Thought of the Levellers

Natural law, natural rights, and consent theory formed the language of popular sovereignty, to which appealed Parliament’s defenders and the Levellers during the English Civil War in the first half of the 17th century. The aim of the article is to reveal how the Levellers differed from the Parliament’s theorists in terms of the idea of popular sovereignty. These differences concerned primarily the understanding of the people and natural rights concepts, which was related to the political goals of the Levellers. In the political dispute that was the conflict between the king and Parliament, supporters of the latter appealed to the idea of popular sovereignty to justify Parliament’s activities, while the Levellers did so to defend the people from Parliament. To this end, they created an individualistic and contractualistic concept of popular sovereignty. The article presents this concept.

In this article, the author considers the Azerbaijani state as a subject of constitutional and legal relations. The definition of constitutionalism is also analyzed, in which the main value in the state is the freedom of the individual and the provision of fundamental human rights and freedoms.

Constitutionalism Against Constitutional Democracy? Remarks on Martin Loughlin’s Against Constitutionalism

The subject of the article is a polemic with M. Loughlin’s thesis that constitutionalism as a philosophy of governance can be realized only in one form. Referring to the theory of worldviews, it can be said that the styles of constitutional interpretation stem from different experiences and accompany different practices. Although various doctrines may be united by a commitment to democracy, irreducible social pluralism determines the constant dispute over the best interpretation of the constitution. Constitutional democracy can be one of the forms of constitutionalism, if it is perceived as an interpretative concept.

The Concept and Systematics of Digital Constitutionalism

Digital constitutionalism as a research trend refers to the adaptation of constitutional principles and institutions to new challenges and opportunities resulting from the digital revolution. Their purpose is to ensure the protection of fundamental rights, the balance of power and the protection of the current hierarchy of the system of values against their infringement caused by digital technology. Despite significant social implications, research on this phenomenon is limited and selective. The aim of the article is to systematize the theoretical framework around the concept of digital constitutionalism. The author reviews the definitions of the concept of digital constitutionalism found in the literature and organizes the subject of the research. A comparative analysis of the current directions of development of digital constitutionalism has also been presented and its individual trends have been identified. The effect of the considerations is to organize the dogmatic and legal discussion regarding the topic issue.