Confrontational Stance of the Jurisprudence of the Polish and Romanian Constitutional Courts Towards the Primacy of the EU Law

The paper discusses the problem of confrontational stance within the jurisprudence of the Polish and Romanian constitutional courts concerning the primacy of the European Union law. Initially, these courts developed the EU-friendly interpretation of their constitutions. They also indicated the scope of the constitutional identity of the respective states based on general constitutional provisions in Poland and on unamendable provisions in Romania. Both courts questioned this kind of interpretation in 2021. The paper compares the CT and CC judgments, determining the scope of disagreement between constitutional courts and the European Union bodies, especially the CJEU. The problems to be compared were determined according to the rules adopted for comparative law and the comparative research method. The conclusion indicates that the political decisions of the legislative and executive authorities may disregard the confrontational stance of constitutional court jurisprudences.

Legal Chaos – About the Difficult but Necessary

The constitutional crisis that began at the end of 2015 left an impact on the functioning of the entire legal system in Poland. Subsequent changes to the regulations and actions taken by the Parliament and the President of the Republic of Poland only deepened the legal chaos and led to situation in which there is no simple way to restore the proper functioning of the Constitutional Tribunal. After many months of work, the Parliament adopted the Act of September 13, 2024 on the Constitutional Tribunal, which would replace the currently applicable legal acts regulating the status of judges of the CT and the functioning of the CT itself. The aim of the article is to examine whether the most important solutions proposed in the Act and the provisions implementing the Act, are consistent with the values and norms resulting from the Constitution and whether they are likely to be effective?

The Syntactic and Chronological Structure of the Article 4 Section 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and the Direct Power of the Nation

The aim of the article is to logically analyze the normative structure establishing the method of exercising power by the Polish Nation. The provision of Art. 4, sec. 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland was interpreted, and then the obtained results were compared with the case law of the Constitutional Tribunal (CT), the views of the doctrine of legal science and political science. One of the goals is to examine whether there are discrepancies between the theories resulting from the logical analysis and the current scientific and institutional practice. The political science and legal approach to this issue will include, among others, the logical structure of the analyzed provision and its possible supplementation – in the chronological aspect – by the case law of the Constitutional Tribunal. The method of analysis of sentences of formal logic, formal-dogmatic, systemic and institutional-legal was used. The analysis shows that from a logical point of view, the structure of the provision – taking into account the assumptions of, among others, the doctrine of law and the Constitutional Tribunal – tends to a situation in which, according to the assumption, it is always the Nation that will exercise power directly or indirectly.

Public Morality as a Premise for Animal Protection – Constitutional Aspects

The aim of the article is to present public morality as a basis for restrictions on constitutional freedoms and rights with the potential to include the protection of animals. The consequence of such an interpretation would be (at least partial) consideration of animal interests when conflicted with the human ones. The paper outlines the current status of animals in Polish law, focusing on the obligation of humane treatment and the possible legal subjectivity of animals. References to public morality in the context of animal protection in the Constitutional Court’s judgment on ritual slaughter and in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights are discussed. What is important for allowing stronger legal protection of animals, grounded also in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, is the recognition of the limitations resulting from anthropocentric view of law.

Gloss to the Judgment of the Constitutional Court of 9th May 2023 file ref. no. SK 81/19

The system of legal regulations shaping the operation of mandatory childhood vaccination in Poland is the basis for many social and legal discussions. Errors and legislative oversights of the legislator lead to the use of these legal aspects as arguments for complaints to administrative courts, but also to the Constitutional Court. The subject of this gloss is the ruling of the Constitutional Court made on May 9, 2023 after nearly four years of proceedings. The ruling is of momentous dogmatic significance, as it resolved an issue that is fundamental from the perspective of the rule of law – the formation of the legal situation of a subject through acts of universally binding law and acts of internal law. The judgment under review is also of practical value, as it resulted in changes to the legal regulations relating to the performance of mandatory immunizations (the so-called vaccination calendar).