About the need to restore the honorary court and introduce the parliamentary and senatorial apology to the Polish parliamentary law

There is no universal regulatory model of parliamentary ethics. The issues of parliamentary ethics are regulated in various countries by acts of varying degrees, usually statutes and parliamentary standing orders. There are countries where redress for abusive conduct of MPs is subject to general rules such as civil liability. Law in other states provides specific sanctions and means of redress for breach of ethics. Traditional forms of redress, referring to the rules of honor procedure of knighthood and nobility, include various forms of apology: personal, written, in mass media, and a particularly interesting type of apologies – to the whole parliament (chambers) as an offended “person”. The inter-war history of the Polish parliament provides an interesting example of an honorary court institution that dealt with cases of offence of one member by the other and the marshal’s court – gathering in case of the violation of the honor of a member by a non-parliamentarian. The honorary court survived until the first years of the communist period. Since 1997, there has been a parliamentary commission in the Polish Parliament, whose mode of operation and system of sanctions’ apply – does not meet its task. The aim of this article is to propose innovative and restorative changes in the area of the subject matter in Poland -- first of all – the restoration of court of Honour and the introduction of an apology from MPs and Senators for breach of ethics.