The Scale and Diversity of References to Emotion in Polish Case Law on Personal Injury

Julia Wesołowska

doi:10.36280/afpifs.2024.2.59

Research article

The Scale and Diversity of References to Emotion in Polish Case Law on Personal Injury

Julia Wesołowska

Skala i różnorodność odniesień do emocji w polskim orzecznictwie dotyczącym szkód niemajątkowych

Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej, nr 2(39)/2024, s. 59-80

DOI 10.36280/afpifs.2024.2.59 ↗

Issue: nr 2(39)/2024
Pages: 59-80
Published: 2024
Article language: English

Polish

Translated abstract

Opracowanie bada sposoby, w jakie prawo może chronić lub kompensować emocje. Skupia się na przypadkach, w których stany afektywne stają się materialnym przedmiotem zainteresowania prawa i zostają włączone do rozumowania prawniczego. W przypadku szkody niemajątkowej (krzywdy) w polskim prawie cywilnym lakoniczne sformułowanie ustawowe pozostawia zdefiniowanie tej instytucji sądom, które mają tendencję do określania jej w kategoriach emocjonalnych. Artykuł bada skalę tego zjawiska i wyznacza jego cechy poprzez analizę orzecznictwa pod kątem roli, częstotliwości i różnorodności emocji pojawiających się w opiniach sądowych. W tym celu przeprowadzono zarówno ilościowe badanie występowania terminów związanych z emocjami w orzecznictwie, jak i jakościowe badanie rodzajów emocji, które stają się prawnie istotne według polskich sądów. Badanie to pozwala na zbudowanie wstępnego „topograficznego” modelu roli emocji w tej części polskiego prawa cywilnego oraz zaproponowanie wstępnego wyjaśnienia, w jaki sposób emocje „wpisują się” w logikę interesów i odszkodowań prawa deliktowego. Wyniki badania pokazują, że różne emocje pozytywne są pośrednim obiektem ochrony prawa, a ich naruszenie jest uważane za miarę szkody niemajątkowej; z drugiej strony, niektóre negatywne emocje stanowią szkodę samą w sobie. Charakter przeżyć emocjonalnych, ich nasilenie i specyfika są badane i oceniane w celu określenia rozmiaru krzywdy. Emocje są postrzegane przez polskie sądy jako złożone, intencjonalne stany umysłu związane z ważnymi interesami. Opracowanie stanowi jedno z pierwszych w polskiej nauce prawa i być może pierwsze empiryczne spojrzenie na związek prawa i emocji. Jako takie, dostarcza ono wglądu w to, jak stany afektywne mogą stać się częścią dyskursu prawnego i wpływać na rozumowanie sądowe, co ma implikacje zarówno dla filozofii prawa, jak i nauki prawa cywilnego.

Translated keywords

Prawo i emocje
prawo cywilne
emocje
krzywda
delikt
szkoda niemajątkowa
zadośćuczynienie.

English

Abstract

This article is intended as a systematic, quantitative study of the occurrence of emotion-related terms in the discourse of Polish case law on personal injury. My purpose is to show the scale (prevalence) and range (variety) of references to terms related to feelings and affect in the decisions of Polish courts, and to compare this data with rudimentary psychological nomenclature. I am interested not only in how often Polish courts refer to affective phenomena in general, but also how they distinguish various kinds of emotions and, to some extent, what role they assign to them in their reasoning about personal injury. This data is placed in the context of basic psychological models. This is supplemented by preliminary remarks on what roles most notable emotions fulfill, aiming at creating a rudimentary taxonomy of emotions in Polish case law on personal injury. In this way the study aims to answer the questions whether Polish courts notice emotions while adjudicating on non-pecuniary harm, what range of emotions they refer to, and how this data shows the perceived function of affect-related terms in case law. In short, the aim of this article may be described as drawing up a tentative “map” of the affective legal terrain, as well as a taxonomy of functions that emotions may play in personal injury law.

Keywords

Law and Emotion
civil law
emotions
tort law
Polish law
non-pecuniary harm
damages.

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References

43 reference entries

References

Abrams, K., & Keren, H. (2009). Who's afraid of law and the emotions. Minn. L. Rev., 94, 1997- 2074.
Avraham, R. (2006). Putting a price on pain -and-suffering damages: A critique of the current approaches and a preliminary proposal for change. Nw. UL Rev. 100, 87-120.
Baillot, H., Cowan, S., & Munro, V. E. (2013). Second‐hand emotion? Exploring the contagion and impact of trauma and distress in the asylum law context. Journal of Law and Society 4, 509- 540.
Bandes, S. (ed.) (1999). The passions of law. New York: New York University Press.
Bandes, S. A., & Blumenthal, J. A. (2012). Emotion and the Law. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 8, 161-181.
Bandes, S. A., Madeira, J. L., Temple, K. D., & White, E. K. (eds.) (2021). Research Handbook on Law and Emotion. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Bandes, S. A., & Salerno, J. M. (2014). Emotion, proof and prejudice: The cognitive science of gruesome photos and victim impact statements. Ariz. St. LJ 46, 1003-1057.
Barrett, L. F. (2017). How emotions are made: The secret life of the brain. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Ben-Shahar, O., Porat, A. (2018). The restoration remedy in private law. Colum. L. Rev., 118, 1901- 1952.
Bergman Blix, S., Wettergren, Å. (2016). A sociological perspective on emotions in the judiciary. Emotion Review 1, 32-37.
Blumberg, J. N. (2011). Pleading Panic: Pure Emotional Damages as Sickness or Disease for Bodily Injury Claims. Mo. L. Rev. 76, 867-896.
Chamallas, M. (2001). Removing emotional harm from the core of tort law. Vand. L. Rev., 54, 751- 765.
Chang, Y. -c., Eisenberg, T., Li, T.H. and Wells, M.T. (2017), Pain and Suffering Damages in Personal Injury Cases: An Empirical Study. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 14, 199-237.
DeFabritiis, S. (2011). Barking up the wrong tree: Companion animals, emotional damages and the judiciary's failure to keep pace. N. Ill. UL Rev. 32, 237-266.
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1971). Constants across cultures in the face and emotion. Journal of personality and social psychology 2, 124-129.
Feigenson, N. (2001). The Passions of Law. Constitutional Commentary 2, 445-462.
Feinberg, J. (1984). The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law Volume 1: Harm to Others. New York: Oxford University Press.
Goldberg, P. (2013). Courts and Legislatures Have Kept the Proper Leash on Pet Injury Lawsuits: Why Rejecting Emotion -Based Damages Promotes the Rule of Law, Modern Values, and Animal Welfare. Stan. J. Animal L. & Pol'y 6, 30-80.
Grossi, R. (2019). Law, emotion and the objectivity debate. Griffith Law Review 1, 23-36.
Grzybowski, S. (1957). Ochrona dóbr osobistych. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Prawnicze.
Grzybowski, S. (1974). System prawa cywilnego. Część ogólna. Wrocław: Ossolineum.
Kahan, D. M., Nussbaum, M. C. (1996). Two conceptions of emotion in criminal law. Columbia Law Review 2, 269-374.
Kaliński, M. (2014). Szkoda na mieniu i jej naprawienie. Instytucje prawa prywatnego, Warszawa:
CH BECK.
Karapanou, V., & Visscher, L. (2010). Towards a better assessment of pain and suffering damages. Journal of European Tort Law 1, 48-74.
Kleinig, J., 1978. Crime and the concept of harm. Am. Phil. Q. 1, 27-36.
King Jr, J. H. (2004). Pain and suffering, noneconomic damages, and the goals of tort law. SMUL Rev. 57, 163-210.
Kircher, J. J. (2006). The four faces of tort law: Liability for emotional harm. Marq. L. Rev. 90, 789- 920.
Langhenry Jr, J. G. (1981). Personal injury law and emotional distress. The Journal of Psychiatry & Law 1, 91-109.
Maroney, T. A. (2011). Emotional regulation and judicial behavior. Calif. L. Rev. 99, 1485-1556.
Nussbaum, M. C. (2003). Upheavals of thought: The intelligence of emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Peršak, N. (2020). Pathways to the criminalisation of emotional distress: An offence -and harm-based typology. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 63, 1-12.
Persson, I. (2005). The retreat of reason: A dilemma in the philosophy of life. Oxford: Oxford University Press on Demand.
Plutchik, R., Kellerman, H., & Conte, H. R. (1979). A structural theory of ego defenses and emotions. In: Emotions in personality and psychopathology. New York: Springer, Boston, MA.
Posner, R. A. (1999). Emotion versus emotionalism in law. In: S. Bandes, The passions of law, New York: New York University Press.
Ritterman S. (1937). Komentarz do ustawy o prawie autorskim, Kraków: Leon Frommer.
Salerno, J. M., Bottoms, B. L. (2009). Emotional evidence and jurors' judgments: The promise of neuroscience for informing psychology and law. Behavioral sciences & the law 2, 273-296.
Sinel, Z. (2022). Just Feelings: A Tort Law Theory of Emotion. UCLA, 1-35.
Stannard, J. E. (2022). ‘Crimes of Passion’: Emotion, Fault, and the Criminal Law. In: A. Reed, B. Simpson, M. Bohlander, V. Adams (eds.), Fault in Criminal Law. London: Routledge.
Verbalyte, M., Bonansinga, D., Exadaktylos, T. (2022). When emotions run high: affective responses to crises in Europe. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research 1, 1-13.
West, R. (2015). Law's Emotions. Richmond Public Interest Law Review 19, 339-362.
Zepinic, V. (2015). Fear of the “Floodgate of Liability” and Acknowledgment of the Recognisable Psychiatric Damage into English Law of Tort. Canadian Social Science 4, 1-14.
Zoll F. (1926), Polska ustawa o prawie autorskiem i Konwencja Berneńska, Warszawa-Kraków- Lwów-Poznań: Gebethner i Wolff.

Publication information

Author and affiliation

Julia Wesołowska

Jagiellonian University in Krakow

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7214-4490

Issue data

Issue nr 2(39)/2024

Pages: 59-80
Published: 2024
DOI: 10.36280/afpifs.2024.2.59
PDF: Full text PDF

AccessOpen LicenceCC BY 4.0 ↗

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J. Wesołowska, The Scale and Diversity of References to Emotion in Polish Case Law on Personal Injury, „Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej” nr 2(39)/2024, s. 59–80, DOI: 10.36280/afpifs.2024.2.59

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[ref-001] Abrams, K., & Keren, H. (2009). Who's afraid of law and the emotions. Minn. L. Rev., 94, 1997- 2074.

[ref-002] Avraham, R. (2006). Putting a price on pain -and-suffering damages: A critique of the current approaches and a preliminary proposal for change. Nw. UL Rev. 100, 87-120.

[ref-003] Baillot, H., Cowan, S., & Munro, V. E. (2013). Second‐hand emotion? Exploring the contagion and impact of trauma and distress in the asylum law context. Journal of Law and Society 4, 509- 540.

[ref-004] Bandes, S. (ed.) (1999). The passions of law. New York: New York University Press.

[ref-005] Bandes, S. A., & Blumenthal, J. A. (2012). Emotion and the Law. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 8, 161-181.

[ref-006] Bandes, S. A., Madeira, J. L., Temple, K. D., & White, E. K. (eds.) (2021). Research Handbook on Law and Emotion. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing.

[ref-007] Bandes, S. A., & Salerno, J. M. (2014). Emotion, proof and prejudice: The cognitive science of gruesome photos and victim impact statements. Ariz. St. LJ 46, 1003-1057.

[ref-008] Barrett, L. F. (2017). How emotions are made: The secret life of the brain. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

[ref-009] Ben-Shahar, O., Porat, A. (2018). The restoration remedy in private law. Colum. L. Rev., 118, 1901- 1952.

[ref-010] Bergman Blix, S., Wettergren, Å. (2016). A sociological perspective on emotions in the judiciary. Emotion Review 1, 32-37.

[ref-011] Blumberg, J. N. (2011). Pleading Panic: Pure Emotional Damages as Sickness or Disease for Bodily Injury Claims. Mo. L. Rev. 76, 867-896.

[ref-012] Chamallas, M. (2001). Removing emotional harm from the core of tort law. Vand. L. Rev., 54, 751- 765.

[ref-013] Chang, Y. -c., Eisenberg, T., Li, T.H. and Wells, M.T. (2017), Pain and Suffering Damages in Personal Injury Cases: An Empirical Study. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 14, 199-237.

[ref-014] DeFabritiis, S. (2011). Barking up the wrong tree: Companion animals, emotional damages and the judiciary's failure to keep pace. N. Ill. UL Rev. 32, 237-266.

[ref-015] Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1971). Constants across cultures in the face and emotion. Journal of personality and social psychology 2, 124-129.

[ref-016] Feigenson, N. (2001). The Passions of Law. Constitutional Commentary 2, 445-462.

[ref-017] Feinberg, J. (1984). The Moral Limits of the Criminal Law Volume 1: Harm to Others. New York: Oxford University Press.

[ref-018] Goldberg, P. (2013). Courts and Legislatures Have Kept the Proper Leash on Pet Injury Lawsuits: Why Rejecting Emotion -Based Damages Promotes the Rule of Law, Modern Values, and Animal Welfare. Stan. J. Animal L. & Pol'y 6, 30-80.

[ref-019] Grossi, R. (2019). Law, emotion and the objectivity debate. Griffith Law Review 1, 23-36.

[ref-020] Grzybowski, S. (1957). Ochrona dóbr osobistych. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Prawnicze.

[ref-021] Grzybowski, S. (1974). System prawa cywilnego. Część ogólna. Wrocław: Ossolineum.

[ref-022] Kahan, D. M., Nussbaum, M. C. (1996). Two conceptions of emotion in criminal law. Columbia Law Review 2, 269-374.

[ref-023] Kaliński, M. (2014). Szkoda na mieniu i jej naprawienie. Instytucje prawa prywatnego, Warszawa:

[ref-024] CH BECK.

[ref-025] Karapanou, V., & Visscher, L. (2010). Towards a better assessment of pain and suffering damages. Journal of European Tort Law 1, 48-74.

[ref-026] Kleinig, J., 1978. Crime and the concept of harm. Am. Phil. Q. 1, 27-36.

[ref-027] King Jr, J. H. (2004). Pain and suffering, noneconomic damages, and the goals of tort law. SMUL Rev. 57, 163-210.

[ref-028] Kircher, J. J. (2006). The four faces of tort law: Liability for emotional harm. Marq. L. Rev. 90, 789- 920.

[ref-029] Langhenry Jr, J. G. (1981). Personal injury law and emotional distress. The Journal of Psychiatry & Law 1, 91-109.

[ref-030] Maroney, T. A. (2011). Emotional regulation and judicial behavior. Calif. L. Rev. 99, 1485-1556.

[ref-031] Nussbaum, M. C. (2003). Upheavals of thought: The intelligence of emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[ref-032] Peršak, N. (2020). Pathways to the criminalisation of emotional distress: An offence -and harm-based typology. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice 63, 1-12.

[ref-033] Persson, I. (2005). The retreat of reason: A dilemma in the philosophy of life. Oxford: Oxford University Press on Demand.

[ref-034] Plutchik, R., Kellerman, H., & Conte, H. R. (1979). A structural theory of ego defenses and emotions. In: Emotions in personality and psychopathology. New York: Springer, Boston, MA.

[ref-035] Posner, R. A. (1999). Emotion versus emotionalism in law. In: S. Bandes, The passions of law, New York: New York University Press.

[ref-036] Ritterman S. (1937). Komentarz do ustawy o prawie autorskim, Kraków: Leon Frommer.

[ref-037] Salerno, J. M., Bottoms, B. L. (2009). Emotional evidence and jurors' judgments: The promise of neuroscience for informing psychology and law. Behavioral sciences & the law 2, 273-296.

[ref-038] Sinel, Z. (2022). Just Feelings: A Tort Law Theory of Emotion. UCLA, 1-35.

[ref-039] Stannard, J. E. (2022). ‘Crimes of Passion’: Emotion, Fault, and the Criminal Law. In: A. Reed, B. Simpson, M. Bohlander, V. Adams (eds.), Fault in Criminal Law. London: Routledge.

[ref-040] Verbalyte, M., Bonansinga, D., Exadaktylos, T. (2022). When emotions run high: affective responses to crises in Europe. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research 1, 1-13.

[ref-041] West, R. (2015). Law's Emotions. Richmond Public Interest Law Review 19, 339-362.

[ref-042] Zepinic, V. (2015). Fear of the “Floodgate of Liability” and Acknowledgment of the Recognisable Psychiatric Damage into English Law of Tort. Canadian Social Science 4, 1-14.

[ref-043] Zoll F. (1926), Polska ustawa o prawie autorskiem i Konwencja Berneńska, Warszawa-Kraków- Lwów-Poznań: Gebethner i Wolff.

The Scale and Diversity of References to Emotion in Polish Case Law on Personal Injury

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Julia Wesołowska

Issue nr 2(39)/2024

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