Search Results for: crime

The forgotten genocide. Extermination of the Crimean Tatars

Prof. dr hab. Jacek Sobczak

VIZJA University

Dr hab. Ksenia Kakareko, prof. UW

University of Warsaw

Dr hab. Maria Gołda-Sobczak, prof. UAM

Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań

English abstract: The present study was motivated by the authors’ intention to analyse the actions of the USSR authorities in 1944 in Crimea against the local Tatar population. The central thesis of the study is that these actions can be classified as genocide. The study’s starting point is an analysis of the concept of R. Lemkin, who was the first to use the term “genocide”, describing its techniques, means, goals and causes. It is also noted that, in the subsequent period, there emerged a number of concepts related to extermination of populations, with the considerations of R. Lemkin being identified as the foundation for the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The contents of this Convention and the related achievements of the International Criminal Court are analysed. The formal-doctrinal legal method is the primary approach used in the research, both in relation to R. Lemkin’s arguments and in the context of interpreting the Convention, as well as in reporting on the views of the International Criminal Court. The linguistic analysis employs the hermeneutic method, albeit to a limited extent, while in the assessment of the operation of the USSR’s repression apparatus, the axiological method of examining law is utilized. The research findings allow for formulating the conclusion that the deportation of the Tatar population from Crimea in 1944 exhibited all the features of the crime of genocide.

Keywords: genocide, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Tatars, Crimea, deportation, extermination

Language: English

Published: Number 3(44)/2025, pp. 119-137.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2025.3.119

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Number of downloads: 176

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Denying communist crimes: Selected problems

Dr Marek Derlatka

University of Zielona Góra

English abstract: The offence described in Article 55 of the Act of 18 December 1998 on the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes Against the Polish Nation is commonly known as the Auschwitz lie, although it also includes the denial of communist crimes. The aim of my study is to analyze the basic matters relating to the offence known as hate speech in relation to “distortions of communism”. The truth about the Katyn massacre was preserved in Polish society despite Stalinist terror and communist fabrications. The right to historical truth, or the right to decree one acceptable vision of the past, the freedom of speech and the freedom of scientific research, can these values be reconciled? Answers to such questions are urgently sought, but, as is often the case in the area of conflict between different types of freedom, they may give rise to many controversies.

Keywords: communist crime, denial, right of memory, national identity

Language: Polish

Published: Number 3(44)/2025, pp. 95-106.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2025.3.95

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Number of downloads: 196

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Attempts to punish communist crimes throughout history: Failures and successes

Prof. dr hab. Adam Bosiacki

University of Warsaw

English abstract: The article contains a retrospective presentation of attempts to punish communist crimes committed by functionaries of the communist state apparatus since the civil war in Russia. Although there were many such attempts, they remain unknown to the general public. This applies to a lesser extent to people punished after the fall of the communist system in the countries of the Soviet Bloc and outside it (in Cambodia). Obviously, however, the extent and effectiveness of punishing communist crimes can hardly be considered satisfactory and will never be so.

Keywords: communist crime, Russia, USSR, Soviet Bloc, fall of communism, decommunization

Language: English

Published: Number 3(44)/2025, pp. 70-79.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2025.3.70

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Number of downloads: 180

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The establishment of the Institute of National Remembrance as the authority responsible for prosecuting communist and Nazi crimes: An analysis of the efficiency of the IPN Act

Mgr Przemysław Pasierb

University of Zielona Góra

English abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyse the rationale behind the establishment of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) and to assess whether its original objectives have been achieved. It is important to note that, in a democratic state, a rational legislator must consider not only the intended outcomes of the enacted provisions but also their efficiency. Applying economic analysis of law, the study examines whether these considerations are reflected in the operation of the IPN Act.

The article employs the doctrinal legal research method to investigate the actual effect of the provisions. Additionally, it utilizes the empirical method to explore the rationale guiding the legislator during the legislative process. Based on available documentation, the fundamental assumptions that were binding on the drafters of the Act are identified. Legislative records indicate that the IPN Act was enacted to enhance the efficiency of proceedings related to prosecuting crimes against the Polish Nation, expand the definition of crimes from Stalinist to communist offences, and separate prosecutors within the IPN from the general prosecutorial system. However, the central research thesis of this study asserts that these goals have not been achieved in accordance with the principles of legal efficiency. The number of resolved cases is disproportionately low relative to the incurred costs. Furthermore, due to the passage of time, many proceedings are unlikely to be initiated or will be discontinued due to the death of suspects – a trend observed in recent years. It should be emphasized that this issue has not been addressed in existing legal scholarship, nor has it been examined through methods aimed at assessing the efficiency of legal provisions.

Keywords: Institute of National Remembrance, efficiency of law, effectiveness of law, Law & Economics (economic analysis of law)

Language: Polish

Published: Number 3(44)/2025, pp. 55-69.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2025.3.55

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Number of downloads: 134

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Proceeds of Crime, Punishment, and Libertarianism

Łukasz Dominiak

Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland

English abstract: In his recent publication, Walter Block claims that disgorgement of indirect proceeds of crime is incompatible with libertarianism. The present paper argues that Block’s claim is incorrect. In support of this position two general arguments are offered. The first one builds on the distinction between restitution and punishment, showing that forfeiture of assets derived indirectly from crime would not – contra Block – result in unequal punishment under retributive justice. The second one refers to libertarian principles of distributive justice and demonstrates that indirect proceeds of crime are owned by the aggrieved parties. Put together, these arguments conclusively show that the idea that indirect proceeds of crime should be forfeited is compatible with libertarianism.

Keywords: proceeds of crime, libertarianism, restitution, punishment

Language: English

Published: Number 2(35)/2023, pp. 20-33.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280//AFPiFS.2023.2.20

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Number of downloads: 297

This text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial – No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

The Principle of Nullum Crimen Sine Lege as a Source for Search for the Limits of Linguistic Interpretation in Criminal Law?

Prof. UŚ dr hab. Sławomir Tkacz

University of Silesia in Katowice

English abstract: The principle of nullum crimen sine lege is nowadays recognized as the standard of the rule of law. This doctrine prohibits the use of analogies and extensive interpretation of legal provisions to the disadvantage of the perpetrator. The starting point of these considerations is that texts of criminal provisions vary in nature. Therefore a question should be asked about the nature of these prohibitions in relation to various provisions. A separate problem is to distinguish inference by analogy from legal interpretation. The presented considerations are aimed at answering the question whether the nullum crimen sine lege principle allows determining the linguistic limits for the interpretation of criminal law. The analyses are illustrated by examples from the field of criminal case law. The article aims to provide reflection on the acceptable limits of interpretation of criminal law, if such limits can be defined. The considerations end with general conclusions.

Keywords: nullum crimen sine lege, limits of legal interpretation, legal interpretation, criminal law, theory of law

Language: Polish

Published: Number 2(23)/2020, pp. 81-95.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2020.2.81

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Number of downloads: 816

The influence of the conscience clause and cultural defense on the appraisal of the structure of crime

Prof. UŚ dr hab. Olga Sitarz, Dr Dominika Bek, Mgr Jakub Hanc

University of Silesia

English abstract: The submitted study is devoted to the clause of conscience and cultural defense. The initial arguments are focused on explaining the indicated terms, by referring to current doctrinal positions. The basic course of considerations – devoted to primary and secondary legality, legislative and non-legislative lawful excuses, circumstances reducing or excluding guilt – is an attempt to answer the question of where in the structure of crime is a place for conscience clause and cultural defense.

Keywords: conscience clause, cultural defense, crime, legislative lawful excuse (justification), non-legislative lawful excuse, circumstances excluding guilt

Language: Polish

Received: 28.03.2017
Accepted: Załączniki 07.08.2017

Published: Number 2(15)/2017, pp. 60-79.

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Number of downloads: 514

Gustav Radbruch

Gustav Radbruch (1878–1949) – German legal philosopher and politician, one of the leading representatives of neo-Kantianism in law. After the Second World War he formulated the famous „Radbruch formula”, according to which grossly unjust law loses its validity – a thought that still marks one of the main lines of dispute between positivism and natural law.

Texts in the „Archive”

Gustav Radbruch’s Antinomies of the Idea of Law in the Light of Immanuel Kant’s Antinomies of Pure Reason

Bartosz Szyler · Issue 4(29)/2021

An analysis of the antinomies of the idea of law in Radbruch – the tensions between justice, expediency and legal certainty – set against Kant’s antinomies of pure reason.

The Account of the Nature of Things in Gustav Radbruch’s Method of Legal Construction and the Assumptions of Legal Positivism

Zuzanna Krzykalska · Issue 4(29)/2021

A reconstruction and defence of Radbruch’s account of the „nature of things” as a form of legal thinking, and the question how far it can be reconciled with the assumptions of legal positivism.

Finding Legal Approaches to Dealing with the Past after the Fall of Communism

Christoph-Eric Mecke · Issue 3(44)/2025

How should crimes committed in the former socialist states be judged? The article approaches the question from legal theory and comparative law, drawing among others on the Radbruch formula.

See also the Legal Positivism and Natural Law collections.

Principles of Law

A thematic collection of the “Archive of Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy”. Texts on the principles of law – the ways this notion is understood and the role principles play in the legal system and in legal argument. All articles are available free of charge in open access.

Disputes over the notion of a legal principle

The contemporary debate on legal principles was opened by Ronald Dworkin, who contrasted principles with rules in his polemic against positivism, and was developed by Robert Alexy, who understood principles as optimisation requirements to be weighed in cases of collision. Polish legal theory, however, has followed its own path. In the classic study by Sławomira Wronkowska, Maciej Zieliński and Zygmunt Ziembiński (Zasady prawa. Zagadnienia podstawowe, 1974), principles are not a separate kind of norm opposed to rules, but norms of particular importance or of a high degree of generality; a distinction is drawn between the directival sense, in which a principle is a norm, and the descriptive sense, in which it is a statement about the characteristic features of a given body of regulation. The very notion of a legal principle thus remains contested, and different branches of legal scholarship understand it differently.

Selected texts

William David Ross’s prima facie duties vis-à-vis Ronald Dworkin’s principles of law – Milena Korycka-Zirk, No. 2(43)/2025 (in English)
Remarks About the Axiological Dimension of the Polish Constitution of 1997 and Its Interpretation – Sławomir Tkacz, Zygmunt Tobor, No. 1(30)/2022
Law and Values Other Than Moral. On Searching for Tropes in Józef Nowacki’s Works – Kamil Zeidler, No. 3(36)/2023
Robert Alexy’s Theory of Legal Principles – Milena Korycka, No. 1(1)/2010 (in English)
The Principle of Nullum Crimen Sine Lege as a Source for the Search for the Limits of Linguistic Interpretation in Criminal Law? – Sławomir Tkacz, No. 2(23)/2020

For authors

The “Archive” publishes articles in legal theory and philosophy – including work on legal principles and constitutional argument – in Polish and English, in open access with no publication charges and with double-blind peer review. The journal is indexed in Scopus, DOAJ and ERIH PLUS (100 points on the Polish ministerial list). See the guidelines for authors.

An editorial collection. Last updated: July 2026.

Legal Interpretation

A thematic collection of the “Archive of Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy”. Texts on legal interpretation – its theories, directives and limits, and its role in adjudication. All articles are available free of charge in open access.

Theories of legal interpretation

Polish legal theory contributed two classic conceptions to the analysis of interpretation: Jerzy Wróblewski’s clarificative theory, on which interpretation is called for when doubt arises as to the meaning of a provision, and Maciej Zieliński’s derivational conception, on which every legal text requires full interpretive reconstruction of norms of conduct (omnia sunt interpretanda). The dispute between the two approaches – including the status of the maxim clara non sunt interpretanda – remains among the liveliest strands of Polish jurisprudence, alongside research on interpretive directives, the linguistic limits of interpretation, legislative materials and new empirical tools.

Selected texts

Wnioskowanie heurystyczne w praktyce orzeczniczej sądów polskich – Paweł Ochmann, No. 2(47)/2026 (in Polish)
Odczytywanie reguł konstytutywnych z tekstu prawnego. Przykład ułaskawienia – Karolina Gmerek, Michał Krotoszyński, No. 1(46)/2026 (in Polish)
Stosowanie prawa łaski przez Prezydenta RP w świetle argumentów spoza tekstu Konstytucji – Zygmunt Tobor, Sławomir Piekarczyk, No. 1(46)/2026 (in Polish)
Krytyczna analiza tezy o przydatności idei metafory konceptualnej w wykładni prawa – Robert Piszko, No. 2(39)/2024 (in Polish)
Wyznaczanie temporalnych granic decyzji interpretacyjnej przez sąd – Tomasz Grzybowski, Marta Sarnowiec-Cisłak, No. 2(39)/2024 (in Polish)
Intencjonalistyczny charakter interpretacji Pisma Świętego i interpretacji prawa – Paweł T. Skoczykłoda, No. 4(37)/2023 (in Polish)
Pewność prawa a zasada interpretatio retro non agit – Agnieszka Bielska-Brodziak, Marek Suska, No. 3(36)/2023 (in Polish)
Zasada nullum crimen sine lege jako źródło poszukiwania językowej granicy wykładni prawa karnego? – Sławomir Tkacz, No. 2(23)/2020 (in Polish)

For authors

The “Archive” publishes articles in legal theory and philosophy – including work on interpretation and legal argumentation – in Polish and English, in open access with no publication charges and with double-blind peer review. The journal is indexed in Scopus, DOAJ and ERIH PLUS (100 points on the Polish ministerial list). See the guidelines for authors.

An editorial collection. Last updated: July 2026.