Archiwum Filozofii Prawai Filozofii Społecznej

Journal of the Polish Section of IVR (ISSN:2082-3304)

IVRwww.ivr.org.pl

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: 544

Lawyers’ professional roles in the light of the good governance model

Mgr Mariola Żak

University of Warsaw


English abstract: The aim of the present paper is to verify the thesis that the institutionalization of regulatory solutions promoted by the idea of good governance leads to a change in the way lawyers and their professional responsibility towards civil society are perceived. Considering the claims that the positivist paradigm of government is in crisis and the postulates of changing the legitimacy of the judiciary expressed in the governance concept, the way in which the social roles of lawyers are understood needs reinterpreting. In the first place, the role of concepts of governance and good governance in contemporary law is described. Then normative coordination models of collective actions by means of which the ideas of governance and good governance can be put into practice are characterized. Finally, the traditional professional roles of lawyers and their so-called accessory roles are presented. The considerations constitute a normative meta-analysis, referred to as meta-governance. The reflection is conducted according to the descriptive method. The article is a contribution to future research and an attempt to identify the major problems faced by lawyers in connection with the implementation of good governance.

Keywords: good governance, social steering, legal multicentrism, normative standard, lawyer’s professional roles, positive responsibility, professional competence

Language: Polish

Received: 06.06.2017
Accepted: 16.08.2017

Published: Number 1(16)/2018, pp. 103-120.

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Number of downloads: 404

‘The Lawyer Personality’. Personal traits of lawyers and the way they perform their professional roles

Dr Adam Zienkiewicz

University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn


English abstract: The main aim of the paper is to present a catalogue of relevant categories of personal traits that constitute the so-called ‘Lawyer Personality’. Personal traits influence the choice and the individual way in which a lawyer performs professional roles. The article indicates the typical lawyer personality traits, such as the need for competition and dominance, pragmatism, pessimism, materialism, cynicism, Machiavellianism, a tendency to become aggressive under stress, an ambition-fuelled focus on ‘winning the case’ combined with low interpersonal sensitivity, and an emphasis on the economic aspects of cases. The author calls for strengthening self-reflection and self-awareness among law students and lawyers with regard to their personal traits, which form the individual lawyer personality, in order for each lawyer to find an effective and satisfactory way of practicing law.

Keywords: personal traits, lawyer personality, professional roles of lawyer

Language: Polish

Received: 06.06.2017
Accepted: 01.09.2017

Published: Number 1(16)/2018, pp. 94-102.

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Number of downloads: 451

Formalism in the application of law and ethics on the example of environmental law regulations

Mgr inż. Adrian Zając

University of Wrocław


English abstract: This paper discusses formalism, a multi-faceted and problematic research topic when applied to law. The most important point of reference in the presented point of view is ethics. That is why the author emphasizes the importance of asking whether formalism is an ethical behaviour in the context of applying the law. The application of law is presented using the following two conceptions: as a behavior of officials, acting as public administration authorities, and as a theoretical model of this phenomenon. This paper is mostly about the first conception: the behaviour of officials and authorities. The problem of formalism and the effects it can lead to are discussed on the basis of specific laws and regulations concerning environmental protection. Research shows that formalism is based on lack of care for the integrity of the legal text and lack of officials’ consistency in recreating the intention of the lawmaker. This kind of activity is presented as unethical, as it may cause unjustified, negative effects in the life of the individual who is a party to the proceedings.

Keywords: ethics, application of law, formalism, environmental protection law

Language: Polish

Received: 06.06.2017
Accepted: 08.09.2017

Published: Number 1(16)/2018, pp. 83-93.

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Number of downloads: 404

Statement of reasons for a dissenting opinion as a dialogical utterance on the example of selected rulings of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal

Dr Maciej Wojciechowski

University of Gdańsk


English abstract: This paper claims that the statement of reasons for a dissenting opinion is a dialogical utterance. Due to the limitations imposed by the secrecy of judicial deliberations it is impossible to describe the direct exchange of arguments between the members of a judicial panel. To some extent, however, we can assume that the presented opinion of the court and a dissenting opinion represent the end result of such deliberations. It is not the same, however, to call both of them examples of dialogue. Real-time dialogue consists of a multitude of utterances of people taking part in a discussion. In the case of the final statement of reasons of the judgment and of the dissenting opinion, the number of utterances is in general limited to two separate large blocks of sentences, each block being one utterance. For this reason we can distinguish between the notion of ‘dialogue’ and that of ‘dialogical utterance’. Such a distinction was proposed in Polish theory of literature in the 1970s by J. Lalewicz. According to Lalewicz, a dialogical utterance depends on the preceding opinion, and its main feature is the ability to become a reference to that opinion. Apart from presenting forms of dialogicality, the article aims to explain these forms by presenting features other than the personal style of legal writing of a given judge. Three factors that might explain the higher or lower level of dialogicality in dissenting opinions are presented. The first factor is of an institutional nature, that is, the way work in the court is organised. The second factor is what I call a potential for an argument. Finally, the third one is the axiological importance of a given case.

Keywords: dissenting opinion, dialogical utterance, dialogue, judicial deliberations, statement of reasons for a court judgment, Constitutional Tribunal, legal disagreement

Language: Polish

Received: 06.06.2017
Accepted: 22.08.2017

Published: Number 1(16)/2018, pp. 69-82.

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Number of downloads: 373

Self-government institutions of the legal professions of public trust in the light of assumptions of Paul Ricoeur’s ‘little ethics’

Dr Marcin Pieniążek

Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University


English abstract: In this article, the problems of institutional aspects of lawyers’ legal ethics are discussed. On the theoretical plane, the concept of lawyers’ self-government institutions is reinterpreted in the perspective of ‘little ethics’ outlined by Paul Ricoeur’s in his work Oneself as Another. This approach is cognitively justified because, in the light of the assumptions adopted by the philosopher, the ethical aspiration of an entity can be fully realised only in ‘just institutions’. In the first place, the text discusses the fundamental importance of the institution, taking into consideration the achievements of legal meta-ethics. The point of reference for the analyses undertaken by the author is the role played by the concept in question in the ethical and professional codifications of the self-governments of attorneys and legal advisors in Poland. In the key part of the discussion, Ricoeur’s concept of ethics is adopted as the basis for systematizing and reinterpreting the issues relating to institutions of self-government of the legal professions of public trust. Ultimately, the theory of professional ethics, referring to the philosopher’s work, enables characterising in a comprehensive way the ethical aspirations of a lawyer at the internal, interpersonal and institutional levels.

Keywords: institutions, lawyers’ professional self-government, legal ethics, ‘little ethics’, Paul Ricoeur

Language: Polish

Received: 06.06.2017
Accepted: 08.09.2017

Published: Number 1(16)/2018, pp. 54-68.

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Number of downloads: 372

Legal ethics as an institution in the light of Neil MacCormick’s social ontology

Mgr Katarzyna Mikołajczyk-Graj

University of Warsaw


English abstract: In Neil MacCormick’s social ontology, the most important concept is ‘institution’. It is characterised by the notion of the institution’s normative core, which distinguishes the given institution from other institutions of social life. The normative core of an institution consists of a collection of values realised by it and a set of social practices. An analysis of professional ethics according to Neil MacCormick’s social ontology allows us to distinguish the normative core of this institution, which may be cognitively promising for several reasons. First of all, the institutional perspective may be helpful in solving the problems with justifying a lawyer’s power, which is based on formalized ethical codes. Secondly, establishing a central set of professional values and practices will make it easier for participants of the given practice to choose the right course of action. Thirdly, identifying the normative core of legal professions will allow us to determine the extent of interference in the self-government of legal professions.

Keywords: legal ethics, Neil MacCormick, institutions

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(16)/2018, pp. 46-53.

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Number of downloads: 343

Subjectivity, responsibility, historicity of a profession and a professional on the example of the profession of a legal advisor

Dr Paweł Łabieniec

University of Łódź


English abstract: Among the legal professions in Poland, the profession of a legal advisor is the most suitable to show how the responsibility of this job and those who perform it has been perceived over time, in the context of the social and economic changes in the legal environment. The transformation of the job, which in the pre-1989 communist period was performed mostly under an employment contract, into a profession of public trust in the strict sense, was underpinned by radical political, social and economic changes. This article presents how these changes turned the job of a legal advisor into a profession. The area of competencies of legal advisors gradually grew, making these professionals increasingly responsible for maintaining high standards of the rendered services and for setting ever higher ethical requirements. The changes in the methods of practising the profession required regular modifications of codes of professional ethics. This process provides ample evidence that professional conduct is a reflection of the social role which the professionals are expected to play.

Keywords: legal advisors, history of the profession of legal advisor, professional ethics of legal advisors, responsibility of a professional

Language: Polish

Received: 06.06.2017
Accepted: 01.09.2017

Published: Number 1(16)/2018, pp. 34-45.

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Number of downloads: 445

David J. Luban’s legal ethics: moral evaluations of acts, subjectivity, responsibility

Dr hab. Przemysław Kaczmarek

University of Wrocław


English abstract: The purpose of this paper is to present the theory of legal ethics by David J. Luban. The reading of this American philosopher’s project I would like to propose focuses around the three pillars mentioned in the title: the moral evaluation of acts, subjectivity, and moral responsibility. Luban’s theory postulates maintaining the autonomy of an individual performing a lawyer’s role in relation to the institutional structure. Therefore, a lawyer’s activity should be characterised by anxiety and questions ‘what should I do?’ The main axis of Luban’s project is criticism of the standard view supporting the principle that institutional morality is independent of social or individual morality. The principle of neutrality assumes that the morality of a professional role should be limited to the institutional dimension. Such an approach is supposed to prevent (especially in case of an attorney) any individual assessments of the client’s behaviour, or – in a broader sense – performing the professional role at one’s own discretion.

Keywords: legal culture, legal ethics, professional role, subjectivity/structure, moral responsibility

Language: Polish

Received: 06.06.2017
Accepted: 16.08.2017

Published: Number 1(16)/2018, pp. 21-33.

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Number of downloads: 454

Traditional and modern conceptions of ethical and professional responsibility

Prof. KUL dr hab. Tomasz Barankiewicz

The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin


English abstract: The main aim of this paper is to emphasize the changes that took place in late 20th century in the thinking about professional responsibility. Today, mainly under the influence of social sciences, the importance of systemic approaches, such as building the so-called ethical infrastructure, is emphasized. This phenomenon should be seen in the perspective of the growing importance of social responsibility, openness, and transparency in public life. The author argues that in the thinking about professional responsibility there has been a shift from individual, internal, and negative responsibility towards social responsibility, usually expressed in the form of ethical infrastructure. The whole discussion is conducted on three planes: 1) the philosophical one, 2) the sociological one, and 3) that of legal sciences.

Kaywords: professional ethics, social responsibility, professional responsibility of lawyers

Language: Polish

Received: 06.06.2017
Accepted: 06.08.2017

Published: Number 1(16)/2018, pp. 8-20.

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Number of downloads: 418

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