Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej

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

IVR

Gustav Klimt’s Jurisprudence and the Problem of the Scale of Claims on the Law

Natalia Regina Skoczylas

University of Wrocław

Dr Mateusz Wojtanowski

University of Wrocław

Abstrakt w języku polskim: The subject of this article is Gustav Klimt’s Jurisprudenz, a work intended as part of a larger exhibition of paintings depicting specific fields of knowledge. In contrast to the prevailing interpretation of the work in question as an expression of the artist’s personal sense of having been wronged, the authors of this article propose an alternative perspective, suggesting that the image carries a valuable message for legal discourse. As they argue, the image in question makes it possible to identify a potential way of improving the practice of law by reducing claims on it. In terms of the axiological perspective of the considerations, the article is located within the liberal democratic tradition. The article has an interdisciplinary character as Jurisprudence is interpreted from the perspective of art history and legal philosophy.

Słowa kluczowe: Gustav Klimt, Jurisprudenz, art history, philosophy of law, claims to law, aesthetics of law

Język artykułu: polski

Opublikowano: Numer 2(43)/2025, s. 58-79.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2025.2.58

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Liczba ściągnięć: 185

Tekst jest dostępny na licencji Creative Commons Uznanie autorstwa 4.0 Międzynarodowe.

Around Selected Themes in the Moral Philosophy of Joseph Raz. Part II

Prof. dr hab. Beata Polanowska-Sygulska

Jagiellonian University in Kraków

English abstract: Prima facie duties central to W.D. Ross’s concept of ethical conflict and principles of law, which are, in turn, central to R. Dworkin’s individualistic conception of law as interpretation, show similarities in the process of their application. A comparative analysis of prima facie duties and principles of law leads to the conclusion that there is a shared essence underlying the notion of normative conflict (collision of prima facie duties or legal principles in so-called “hard cases”). This essence consists in the assumed importance of the factual situation as a factor determining an ethical and legal choice from among conflicting duties or principles, and the importance of the decision-making subject in resolving the conflict. Factuality and the unique subject (whether the “plain man” or “Judge Hercules”) are the factors that condition the possibility of identifying the proper duty and nonabstract right. Simultaneously, these are the factors that establish normative conflicts as disputes not determinable by an abstractly assumed moral principle; they open normativity to new narratives, to development, and to evolution. They individualize the conflict through the individualized nature of facts and the decision-making subject. Thus, a comparative analysis may lead to the conclusion that the assumption of openness to collisions of principles and duties is an expression of liberal thought, as it is not a narrative that imposes or excludes. Any abstract approach to conflict resolution is inherently oppressive, as it disregards the importance of the decision-making subject and the complexity of factual situations. Individualism opens up the conflict rather than closing it. This is the nature of declarations of individual rights and freedoms – when conceptualized as legal principles, they inevitably expose rights and freedoms to conflict.

Keywords: Joseph Raz, perfectionist liberalism, personal autonomy, group rights as a category, political conception of human rights, Ronald Dworkin, ethical monism

Language: Polish

Published: Number 2(43)/2025, pp. 42-57.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2025.2.42

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Number of downloads: 197

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William David Ross’s prima facie duties vis-à-vis Ronald Dworkin’s principles of law

Dr hab. Milena Korycka-Zirk, prof. UMK

Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń

English abstract: Prima facie duties central to W.D. Ross’s concept of ethical conflict and principles of law, which are, in turn, central to R. Dworkin’s individualistic conception of law as interpretation, show similarities in the process of their application. A comparative analysis of prima facie duties and principles of law leads to the conclusion that there is a shared essence underlying the notion of normative conflict (collision of prima facie duties or legal principles in so-called “hard cases”). This essence consists in the assumed importance of the factual situation as a factor determining an ethical and legal choice from among conflicting duties or principles, and the importance of the decision-making subject in resolving the conflict. Factuality and the unique subject (whether the “plain man” or “Judge Hercules”) are the factors that condition the possibility of identifying the proper duty and nonabstract right. Simultaneously, these are the factors that establish normative conflicts as disputes not determinable by an abstractly assumed moral principle; they open normativity to new narratives, to development, and to evolution. They individualize the conflict through the individualized nature of facts and the decision-making subject. Thus, a comparative analysis may lead to the conclusion that the assumption of openness to collisions of principles and duties is an expression of liberal thought, as it is not a narrative that imposes or excludes. Any abstract approach to conflict resolution is inherently oppressive, as it disregards the importance of the decision-making subject and the complexity of factual situations. Individualism opens up the conflict rather than closing it. This is the nature of declarations of individual rights and freedoms – when conceptualized as legal principles, they inevitably expose rights and freedoms to conflict.

Keywords: prima facie duties, principles of law, hard case, collision of principles, pluralism, individualism

Language: Polish

Published: Number 2(43)/2025, pp. 22-41.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2025.2.22

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Number of downloads: 200

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Incoherence of Judges’ Decisions on Punishments

Dr Michał Janowski

University of Łódź

English abstract: The author conducted empirical research on the coherence of actual decisions on the type and severity of punishments imposed by judges. The empirical analysis undertaken by the author had a dual structure. It consisted of an examination of court files of actual criminal cases and a questionnaire study conducted among professional criminal judges. The results of the questionnaire study are presented in this article. The questionnaire study was based on an empirical experimental model. Decisions made by judges during a laboratory simulation differ widely even though the facts and legal rules are the same. Judges do not coherently translate sentencing factors into specific criminal penalties. There is no common translation factor. What is more, judges’ decisions differ depending on whether they are made in isolation or by comparison to cases belonging to another category.

Keywords: empirical research, incommensurability of values, incoherence of punishments, criminal law

Language: Polish

Published: Number 2(43)/2025, pp. 7-21.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2025.2.7

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Number of downloads: 186

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Issue 4(41)/2024 of the „Archiwum…” is now available

Welcome to the issue 4(41)/2024 of the „Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej”. It is a thematic issue entitled: „Autonomy of Law: Classical Interpretations and New Challenges”, edited by Prof. UWr Dr. Maciej Pichlak and Dr. Mateusz Wojtanowski. The issue includes the following texts:

Articles:

Prof. UWr dr hab. Maciej PICHLAK, Dr Mateusz WOJTANOWSKI

In Search of the Nomos of Law. Classical Interpretations and New Challenges to the Autonomy of Law

Dr Paweł JABŁOŃSKI

On the Difference Between a Strong and Weak Version of the Idea of an Internal Point of View

Prof. UAM dr hab. Karolina M. CERN, Prof. UAM dr hab. Barbara JANUSZ-POHL

„Back and forth” – The Rule of Law from its Origins to its Application in the Adjudication of the CJEU

Prof. dr hab. Przemysław KACZMAREK

Goodbye, Rule of Law? Diagnosis and Perspective

Prof. UG dr hab. Maciej WOJCIECHOWSKI

The Structural Determinants of Attitudes of Distrust in the Practice of Professional Roles by Representatives of Selected Legal Public Trust Professions

Prof. UZ dr hab. Martyna ŁASZEWSKA-HELLRIEGEL

Autonomy of Law in the Face of Bioethical Problems

Dr hab. Rafał MAŃKO

The Question of the Autonomy of Law in the Light of E.B. Pašukanis’s Hylomorphic Theory

Dr Karol GREGORCZUK

Legal and Political Positivism – Uberto Scarpelli’s Concept

From the life of the Polish Section of IVR:

The Results of the Competition of the Association of Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy – Polish Section of IVR for the Best Doctoral Thesis in the Field of Theory and Philosophy of Law

The issue is available HERE.

Issue 1(38)/2024 of the „Archiwum…” is now available

Welcome to the issue 1(38)/2024 of the „Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej”. The issue includes the following texts:

Articles:

Articles:

Prof. dr hab. Andrzej BATOR
Beata Polanowska-Sygulska, Harmonia i dysonans. Wokół rozmów z filozofami oksfordzkimi. Remarks about the Book

Dr Hanna DĘBSKA
A Scholar’s Career and Idea Generation Under Conditions of Fundamental Structural Changes. About Leon Petrażycki Once Again

Prof. dr hab. Jolanta JABŁOŃSKA-BONCA
Changes in the Shell of Legal Culture on the Example of Remote Hearings. An Outline of the Problem

Dr Jędrzej JANICKI
Hermeneutical Elements in the Derivational Model of Legal Interpretation

Dr Michał SŁUŻALEC
State Commission for Counteracting Sexual Abuse of Minors under the Age of 15 as a Form of Satisfying the Sense of Public Justice

Dr hab. Andrzej STOIŃSKI
An Analysis of the Distribution of Rights and Duties in Communities in the Face of Complex Compensatory Correlation

Recenzje:

Mgr Karol STAŚKIEWICZ
Wojciech Zomerski, W kierunku demokratycznej nauki prawa? Dogmatyka, edukacja, postanalityczność [Towards a democratic science of law? Dogmatics, education, postanality], Warszawa 2023, ss. 383

The issue is available HERE.

Intentional Character of the Interpretation of the Holy Scripture and the Interpretation of Law

Mgr Paweł T. SKOCZYKŁODA

University of Silesia in Katowice

English abstract: The article aims to compare the process of interpreting law with that of interpreting the Holy Scripture. The study focuses on the issue of the interpretative approach adopted for interpretation in both above-mentioned branches of study. An appropriate interpretative approach determines the meaning of the text, which presupposes its correct interpretation. As part of the study, an analysis is undertaken of the interpretative assumptions, expounded in legal scholarship, which assumptions underlie the process of legal interpretation. The concept of interpretation of the sacred text that is recognized in biblical hermeneutics is presented. It turns out that despite the fact that law and the Bible are obviously different from each other, both legal theory and biblical hermeneutics were developed and largely based on the same concept of interpretation – intentionalism – identifying the meaning of utterances with meaning intended by the author of the statement. The conducted analysis enables formulating a general conclusion that only intentionalism makes it possible to discover the full and proper sense of the analyzed utterance.

Keywords: interpretation, statutory interpretation, exegesis, Holy Scripture, intentionalism, textualism

Language: Polish

Published: Number 4(37)/2023, pp. 98-110

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2023.4.98

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Number of downloads: 355

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

A Statistical Picture of the Difficulty of Law

Mgr Mikołaj RYŚKIEWICZ

University of Warsaw

English abstract: The incomprehensibility of law is no secret, but the depth of this incomprehensibility has remained insufficiently explored. Previous studies have supported quantitative aspects either superficially or without delving into their method. This work aims to expand the toolkit for analysing legal language in terms of its comprehensibility and demonstrate the results of using these tools. Dozens of Polish laws selected for the study were fully processed and analysed using the Jasnopis application. The results were then reviewed and analysed in the context of linguistic and social studies. The analyses: (1) confirm the profound incomprehensibility of legal language, regardless of the yardstick used; (2) quantify this incomprehensibility in relation to general Polish, providing a picture of how remote legal language is from reality; (3) point to the intrinsic peculiarity of legal language, as manifested in the variation of intelligibility and morphological parameters depending on the branch of law; (4) reveal the potential in studying legal language with indicators other than those commonly used. The research opens
up the field for a broader-than-before discussion of the communicative quality of legislation and, thanks to the context of general Polish, helps outline the socially relevant consequences in the form of linguistic alienation of law recipients.

Keywords: legal language, incomprehensibility of law, nominal style, jurislinguistics

Language: Polish

Published: Number 4(37)/2023, pp. 79-97.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2023.4.79

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Number of downloads: 389

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