Articles – Page 25

Rights – Person – Death. Part 1: Around Daniel Sperling’s Theory

Maksymilian Hau, Stanisław Jędrczak

University of Warsaw

Abstract: This article is divided into two parts. In the first part, presented here, we present arguments for the concept of post-mortem interests. Post-mortem interests are understood as events that constitute a detriment or a benefit or to the deceased person, a person who no longer exists. A right is an interest of the person recognized and protected by law. In the second part, which will be published shortly, we examine the possibility of applying and the actual application of the theory of post-mortem interests in the Polish legal system. We address the following issues: medical confidentiality, protection of medical data after the patient’s death, author’s moral rights, protection of the memory of the deceased, the law on orders and decorations, and the legal status of human corpses. The theoretical background for this article was the book by Daniel Sperling Posthumous Interest, in which the author outlined the problem discussed in the perspective of the common law regime.

Keywords: death, person, interests of the deceased, human being, bioethics, protection of the memory of the deceased

Language: Polish

Received: 24.06.2017
Accepted: 28.09.2017

Published: Number 2(17)/2018, pp. 75-89.

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Number of downloads: 387

Ensuring Independence in the Regulation of Professional Advocates’ Ethics in the Russian Federation and in the Republic of Poland

Dr Georgii Sibirtsev

Voronezh State University

Abstract: Unfortunately, today there is little Russian (and Polish) research dedicated to the analysis of the professional legal ethics in the Russian Federation and in the Republic of Poland. Nevertheless, this area of scientific research could be very useful for both countries because of the common history of these states. The article examines the existing research on the advocate’s independence in Russia and Poland, while providing an attempt to compare the methods of legal regulation of qualified legal assistance introduced at the present stage.

Keywords: comparative law, the bar, qualified legal assistance, legal guarantees of advocates’ activity, legal ethics, independence of advocates’ activity

Language: English

Received: 20.01.2017
Accepted: 16.12.2017

Published: Number 2(17)/2018, pp. 112-119.

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Number of downloads: 382

Legal Narrative and Legal Disagreement

Mgr Marta Dubowska, Dr hab. Adam Dyrda

Jagiellonian University in Kraków

Abstract: What is the relationship between general legal theories and legal narratives? In this paper we aim to problematise this relationship in the context of different legal disagreements. As we see it, the Dworkinean category of “theoretical disagreement”, which basically refers to the phenomenon of disagreement “about the grounds of law” (between different general legal theories) is not sufficient to cover all substantial disagreements that appear in legal practice. Thus, we propose a category of “narrative disagreement” which has a wider scope. Eventually, we discuss the thesis of a possible equality of legal theories, as well as legal narratives, which we understand as an inevitable consequence of the relationship between legal theories/narratives and a special type of evidence on which they both rely: truisms about the law that laymen and/or legal professionals generally share.

Keywords: general legal theories, legal disagreement, theoretical disagreement, narrative disagreement, legal narrative, legal truisms

Language: English

Received: 26.12.2017
Accepted: 26.01.2018

Published: Number 2(17)/2018, pp. 47-59.

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Number of downloads: 463

The Philosophy of Law in Modern Russia

Prof. dr Marina Dawidowa

Volgograd State University

Abstract: Modern Russian philosophy of law is under the great influence of Soviet theory of state and law. The article shows its development from the beginning of the XX century, dividing this period into 6 main stages according to the historical, political and scientific changes in the country. Most attention is paid to the modern trends and personalities.

Keywords: Russia, Russian philosophy of law, Russian theory of law, theory of state and law, Russian law, Russian jurisprudence

Language: Polish
Translation: Tomasz Grzybowski

Received: 15.04.2018
Accepted: 13.06.2018

Published: Number 2(17)/2018, pp. 5-17.

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Number of downloads: 378

A Few Questions Concerning Photographs in Court Decisions

Dr Michał Dudek

Jagiellonian University in Kraków

Abstract: The aim of this article is to discuss the infrequent, but noticeable, practice of inserting photographs in court decisions. Against the background of the few existing studies on this practice, which seem to be overly case-specific, this article proposes a more general, even universal list of problems connected with it. It addresses a short list of questions about the inclusion of photographs in court decisions, such as, for instance: “Why do judges include in court decisions photographs concerning the case-relevant facts?”; “Who are the addressees of these photographs?”; “What is the source of the photographs used and are all sources allowable?”; and “How come that some segments of court decisions are accompanied by relevant photographs and others are not?”. A discussion of these and other questions enables the conceptualisation of many problems connected with inserting photographs in court decisions – most notably, that of the criteria of choice, which previously has not been explicitly addressed, but barely hinted at – and leads to the conclusion that the practice in question, surrounded by many controversies, should be discontinued.

Keywords: law, visuality, court decisions, photographs

Language: English

Received: 19.01.2017
Accepted: 29.09.2017

Published: Number 2(17)/2018, pp. 60-74.

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Number of downloads: 442

The Revolutionary Political Philosophy of Ayn Rand

Dr Sławomir Drelich

Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń

Abstract: Ayn Rand is generally considered a libertarian, although she never claimed to belong to this movement. Undoubtedly, she was best known for promoting liberal and capitalist ideas. The author of this paper argues that Rand’s philosophical and political concepts can be described as revolutionary. The purpose of this text is to prove it by pointing to the manifestations of revolutionism in Rand’s works, ideas and concepts. The author distinguishes five different aspects through which her revolutionism is expressed. These are: (1) the antimystical aspect; (2) the anthropological aspect; (3) the social aspect; (4) the political aspect, and (5) the economic aspect. Such wide-ranging revolutionism makes some researchers and commentators recognize Rand’s thought as a manifestation of utopian thinking.

Keywords: objectivism, libertarianism, philosophy of politics, liberalism, revolutionism

Language: English

Received: 31.10.2017
Accepted: 27.03.2018

Published: Number 2(17)/2018, pp. 35-46.

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Number of downloads: 459

Legislative Materials as a Tool for Solving Grammatical Problems in Statutory Interpretation

Dr hab. Agnieszka Bielska Brodziak, Dr Mateusz Zeifert

University of Silesia

Abstract: The article begins with a presentation of an interpretative tool in the form of materials from the legislative process (legislative materials, legislative history), including arguments offered in the theory of law in favour and against their use for interpretation purposes. These matters are then discussed with references to a specific type of interpretive problems, namely problems that stem from the grammatical constructions of the provisions of the law. The authors analyse five cases in which Polish courts reach for legislative materials in order to resolve doubts caused by sentence syntax, conjunctions or punctuation. The decisions issued vary – in their use of legislative materials courts deploy various other tools and values (e.g. vocabularies, formal logic, the ratio legis behind a provision or the rules of legislative procedure). The outcomes of such a confrontation are varied. Thus, the judgments presented here are a good illustration of the diversity of issues connected with the theoretical and practical aspects of the use of legislative materials in the process of interpreting the law.

Keywords: legislative history, legislative materials, statutory interpretation, grammatical problems

Language: English

Received: 02.10.2017
Accepted: 15.12.2017

Published: Number 2(17)/2018, pp. 18-34.

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Number of downloads: 548

The Method of Reflective Equilibrium in Moral Reasoning

Prof. dr hab. Marek Smolak

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

English abstract: The paper analyses the nature of moral reasoning when balancing constitutional rights. The fundamental assumption is the idea that adequate moral reasoning based on the Weight Formula should demonstrate the reasons for adopting specific principles. This demonstration should be rational. Rationality can be achieved by applying J. Rawls’s methods of reflective equilibrium. The above method consists of background theory/approach. I propose to consider two background theories/approaches, namely Dworkin’s idea of integrity and the concept of the rule of law formulated by O. Raban. My aim is to argue that the latter is more accurate for moral reasoning when balancing constitutional rights than the former because it helps us to rationalize the broadly understood process of taking judicial decisions.

Keywords: Weight Formula, reflective equilibrium, moral reasoning, Ofer Raban

Language: English

Published: Number 1(10)/2015, pp. 89-96

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2015.1.89

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Number of downloads: 791

Emotional Labour of Judges

Dr Maciej Wojciechowski, Dr Bogna Dowgiałło, Prof. dr hab. Dorota Rancew-Sikora

University of Gdańsk

English abstract: Our article concentrates on emotions as related to the functioning of man in the judicial system seen as a modern bureaucratic institution. Special attention is given to the work of judges due to their key position in this system. In legal discourse there is a dominating normative idea of a judge as a decision-making subject free of any emotional factors influencing their judgment. According to this traditional approach, a decision biased even in the slightest way by emotions could not be regarded as impartial, whereas judicial impartiality is regarded as one of the core values of the justice system. Our standpoint assumes not only that judges experience emotions but also asserts that they are being manifested in varied ways. Our analysis is based on Arlie Hochschild’s conception of emotional labour. Such labour is being performed when an individual reflects on his or her feelings and makes an effort either to change or to inhibit emotions which are regarded as misfitting. The necessity of emotional work is a result of cultural feeling and expression rules. It seems prima facie that there is one clear expression rule regarding displaying emotions by the judge in the Polish legal culture: no emotions allowed. However, contrary to possible reconstructed declarations and recommendations warning judges against showing emotions, the rules of expressing them in Polish courts are not unequivocal. We claim that one can distinguish between unconditional and conditional rules of expressing emotions. The former relate to expressing emotions concerning non-professional participants, and conditional rules of expressing emotions relate to professional participants in the hearing. There are situations in which an emotional reaction is reasonable, because it represents certain values to which the justice department adheres, and those in which judges regret showing annoyance or anger. The goal of the emotional labour performed is not only a realization of the value of impartiality, but also the balance of the judges that allows them to efficiently fulfil their role.

Keywords: Arlie Hochschild, legal culture, judicial impartiality

Language: English

Published: Number 1(10)/2015, pp. 97-109

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2015.1.97

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Number of downloads: 751

On Possible Applications of Paul Ricoeur’s Thought in Legal Theory

Dr Marcin Pieniążek

Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University

English abstract: The paradigm of legal positivism, historically the most important attempt at turning law into science, has been subject to thorough criticism in past decades. The criticism has concerned the most important features of legal positivism, and especially the assumption of separation of law and morality, the dogma of statue being the only source of law, and the linguistic methods of interpreting legal texts. With a crisis of the positive paradigms, the demand for new, humanistic grounds for analysing philosophical and legal questions is intensifying. This is the reason for this article’s attempt to point to the application of Paul Ricoeur’s achievements to the key questions of the philosophy of law. It must be emphasised that his works, and especially Soimême comme un autre, may serve as a foundation for a philosophy of law rejecting the problematic claims about the dualism of being and obligation, the distinction of descriptive and prescriptive languages, and also the separation of law and morality. Thanks to this, the legal topos pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept) finds a reinforcement in the ontology of the subject applying law and can be understood as an ethically significant pattern of identity of the self. Equally fruitful seems the possibility of combining the questions of the ontology of the subject applying law with the question of a legal text and its interpretation. The assumption of Ricoeur’s perspective leads to a reduction in the distance between the legal text and its addressee, emphasised by the critics of legal positivism. This rapprochement becomes possible thanks to the connection of the question of the narrative that a legal text is with the question of narrativisation of the subject (i.e. the interpreter of a legal text), being itself in the ipse sense, i.e. applying the law.

Keywords: Paul Ricoeur, legal positivism, legal interpretation

Language: English

Published: Number 1(10)/2015, pp. 79-88

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2015.1.79

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Number of downloads: 609

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