Search Results for: legal form

Changes in the Shell of Legal Culture on the Example of Remote Hearings. An Outline of the Problem

Prof. dr hab. Jolanta Jabłońska-Bonca

Kozminski University in Warsaw

English abstract: The aim of the article is to demonstrate that the new form (‘shell’) of legal culture in courts, which is currently taking shape during remote hearings (i.e., hearings held via electronic devices with simultaneous transmission of image and sound), has an impact on the operation of legal and extralegal rules of court proceedings. The article uses some of the results of empirical research on remote civil hearings in Poland (participant observation method).

Keywords: shell of legal culture, judicial culture, remote hearings

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(38)/2024, pp. 34-47.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2024.1.34

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Number of downloads: 336

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

Dr Michał Służalec

University of Jan Długosz in Częstochowa

English abstract: The article discusses the actions of the State Commission for Counteracting Sexual Abuse of Minors under the Age of 15, in relation to the public sense of justice. Its aim is to determine whether the regulations adopted in statutory law indeed implement the principle of public sense of justice, as well as whether this principle constitutes an argument in favour of applying new solutions concerning acts committed prior to the date of its entry into force. The research assumptions necessitated an exploration of the meaning of the public sense of justice, as well as justice itself, in conjunction with the response (of the society/state) to human actions. The chosen thematic area has not been previously addressed in legal scholarship, and controversies regarding the instruments available to the Commission should be juxtaposed with its fundamental premise, namely, satisfying the public sense of justice. The article confines itself to juxtaposing the values connected with public justice in the context of selected competencies carried out by the Commission.

Keywords: public sense of justice, Pedophilia Commission, State Commission for Counteracting Sexual Abuse of Minors under the Age of 15

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(38)/2024, pp. 60-70.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2024.1.60

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Number of downloads: 299

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Legal Certainty and the Interpretatio Retro Non Agit Principle

Prof. UŚ dr hab. Agnieszka BIELSKA-BRODZIAK, dr Marek SUSKA

University of Silesia in Katowice

English abstract: Referring to Józef Nowacki’s research on the principle of non-retroactivity of law [lex retro non agit], the authors of this study focus on the relationship between legal certainty and retroactive changes in the prevailing interpretation of legal provisions. The main topic of the study is the expression ‘interpretatio retro non agit‘, which is already well-known in the legal culture, but not widely used. The objectives of the study were: (1) to determine the content related, or potentially related, to the statement above in case law and literature; (2) to examine whether there are grounds to consider this principle as binding in adjudication; and (3) to explain why changes in the prevailing interpretation of legal provisions are perceived as a necessary evil. The research gave the authors a basis to distinguish between two understandings of the interpretatio retro non agit principle: the narrow one and the broad one. Moreover, the broad understanding contains four sub-types of the thus understood principle. The narrow approach prohibits recognizing a change in the prevailing interpretation as a circumstance that would allow legally valid court judgments or final administrative decisions to be challenged. On the other hand, the broad approach introduces a presumption that legal effects should not be ascribed solely because of a change in the prevailing interpretation that occurred after the legal fact took place. Four possible justifications for the interpretatio retro non agit principle were also considered: formal, natural, cultural, and instrumental justification. The authors found that the instrumental justification, which connects the principle with the value of legal certainty, seems to be the most appropriate. However, some elements of the principle can also be convincingly justified formally. Retroactive interpretation changes are only briefly discussed in literature, which the authors regard as an unfavourable state of affairs. However, the fundamental differences between law-making and the application of law allow us to understand that protecting the addressees of the law in practice is much more complicated in cases of applying the law.

Keywords: legal certainty, legal interpretation, consistent line of case law, interpretatio retro non agit, ex post facto laws

Language: Polish

Published: Number 3(36)/2023, s. 51-65.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2023.3.51

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Number of downloads: 382

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Terminological Consistency in the Legal System. A View at the Problem of Interpretation from the Perspective of Law-making Practice

Dr Marek SUSKA

Silesian University in Katowice

English abstract: The goal of the article is to determine whether the legal interpretation should be made with the assumption of consistency of terminology at the level of a branch of law or at the global level. The question is therefore whether the interpreter should presume that the legislator ‘by default’ refers those who apply the law only to the legal definitions contained in a certain, most general act within one branch of law, or whether, regardless of the branch, the legislator always uses a uniform terminology. An analysis of the law-making practice may be a source of useful cues to answer this question. First, the article reconstructs the requirements imposed on the drafters by the Principles of Legislative Technique. Secondly, several dozen acts passed by the Sejm of the 7th and 8th term of office are examined in terms of the presence of ‘definitional’ references to acts from the same branch of law and acts from another branch of law. In this way, it is established that only the presumption of a legal act maintain terminological consistency with legal definitions set out in the basic act for a given branch of law seems to be legitimate. The basic act should not be understood in an institutional way, but as one relating to a quasi-branch. The article also identifies at least some cases where it is justified or unjustified to use ‘explicit’ references to point out branch-level or global terminological consistency. The results of the analyses may find application in the discussion on the meaning of the directive of legal language in the theory and practice of interpretation, as well as in the theory and practice of legislation – in determining when it is necessary to use a provision referring to a legal definition.

Keywords: terminological consistency, provisions referring to other provisions, legal language, law-making, legal interpretation, system of law

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(34)/2023, pp.58-71

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280//AFPiFS.2023.1.58

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Number of downloads: 470

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Argument from Precedent in Legal Interpretation of Texts of Legal Acts from the Perspective of a Derivative Concept of Legal Interpretation

Prof. US dr hab. Agnieszka Choduń

University of Szczecin

English abstract: The aim of this article is to ascertain whether in the Polish legal culture in which precedent is not a legislative fact, it can become an argument in the process of judicial interpretation. The article posits that an analysis of precedent as an argument in judicial interpretation must be carried out in relation to a particular concept (or theory) of legal interpretation. Hence, it adopts the Maciej Zieliński’s (derivative) concept of legal interpretation as a point of reference for understanding “legal interpretation”. The choice is based on the following reasons: 1) this concept offers a complex approach to legal interpretation (which assumes that interpretation can be concluded if three directives have been applied by an interpreter: linguistic, systemic and functional); 2) this concept considers the realistic elements of legal interpretation in the form of directives linked to the interpretative findings achieved in judicial practice; 3) this concept stipulates that legal interpretation has certain roles, which allow establishing whether the outcome of legal reasoning is within the scope of the interpretation or whether it constitutes a “normative novelty”. As a result of this analysis, it can be concluded that depending on the content of the directives of interpretation adopted in a given legal culture, the proceedings of the entity applying a law will have either an interpretative or a legislative character and will consequently determine how invoking earlier court judgments in legal interpretation will be classified.

Keywords: precedent, legal interpretation, roles of interpretation

Language: English

Published: Number 3(32)/2022, pp. 19-33

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2022.3.19

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Number of downloads: 545

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

Mgr Zuzanna Krzykalska

Jagiellonian University

English abstract: In his work titled Natur der Sache als juristishe Denkform, Gustav Radbruch develops his account of the nature of things as an objective essence of social reality, which serves as a foundation for the construction of legal institutions. The main objective of this paper is to refute two serious objections against the account, namely, the alleged contradiction between the account of the nature of things and the 1) assumption of relativism of values as well as the 2) assumption of the ontological is-ought dichotomy. To show that Radbruch’s account is consistent with those two assumptions of legal positivism, firstly, I invoke the conceptual distinction between ontological and epistemological objectivity. Secondly, I specify the understanding of the term ’nature‘ not as implying natural origin, but rather an object’s having an essence in ontological terms. With those conceptual distinctions, it is possible to understand Radbruch’s theory as a version of essentialism towards social artifacts (those important form the legal point of view), which does not imply any iusnaturalistic commitments.

Keywords: Gustav Radbruch, Nature of Things, Legal Construction, Legal ontology, Legal institution, Law as Artifact

Language: polish

Published: Number 4(29)/2021, pp.45-57

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2021.4.45

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Number of downloads: 774

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Back to the Past? The Evolution of the Legal Mechanisms Influencing the Collective Memories in Spain from the Central European Perspective

Dr Filip Cyuńczyk

SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities

English abstract: The article’s primary goal is to conduct case studies of Spanish memory policies introduced after 2007 and its comparison with CEE countries activities in the same field. The primary research hypothesis is: Do several case studies of several memory policies implemented in postcommunist states help examine the Spanish model of dealing with the past reformulation? This paper intends to show similarities and differences between Spanish and Central and Eastern European models of dealing with the past, which both are using legal means. I present some of the specific elements of postcommunist constitutionalisation in CEE, including memory narrations locations in several constitutions in the region. I also show the impact of memory narrations on individual states’ institutional policies from the CEE and the Kingdom of Spain. Finally, I show the hidden potential for Spanish political community reconstruction located in the memory laws.

Keywords: memory laws, juridification of the memory, collective memory, constitutionalism, democratic transtion

Language: Polish

Published: Number 3(28)/2021, pp. 22-38

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2021.3.22

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Number of downloads: 423

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The Systematization of Legal Values around Justice

Prof. M. Isabel Garrido Gómez

University of Alcalá

English abstract: This article underlines the centrality of justice when understanding it as an overarching value that globalizes and systematizes all the others. In particular, it analyzes what happens with legal security as a formal enshrinement of justice, and freedom and equality as its material manifestations. From this point of view, it becomes clear that the resulting systematization depends on the type of State currently in force. This is joined the diverse ways of understanding justice and the evaluation of the validity-justice relationship depending on the different ways of understanding it. Likewise, the ways of understanding the justice-law connection are linked to the concept of the Law that we uphold. Finally, it is concluded that legal operators are called to administer justice in a complementary regime, with legal security serving to reinforce freedom, as is the case with regard to equality.

Keywords: Systematization, legal values, justice, complementarity of values, legal operators

Language: English

Published: Number 3(28)/2021, pp. 39-53

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2021.3.39

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Number of downloads: 508

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References to Schools of Legal Thought in the Justifications of Judgments of Polish Courts

Prof. UR dr hab. Grzegorz Maroń

University of Rzeszów

English abstract: The article presents the results of a quantitative and qualitative study of the Polish case law in terms of the presence of direct references to schools of legal thought in the written justifications of judgments. Although these types of references are very rare, their intensification can be observed in the last decade. In justifications of court decisions, references were made to just a few strands of jurisprudence. Most references relate to jusnaturalism and legal positivism. Courts characterize schools of legal thought in a simplified and exaggerated manner, and sometimes also incorrectly. The judicature usually disregards the authors’ versions of particular strands of jurisprudence, reaching for the claims derived from these strands in their ‘average’ form. The paper posits that legal philosophy is potentially useful for courts, especially in hard cases. It may help judges to perform the explanatory and persuasive functions of justifications of judgments. The condition for this is that references to the tenets of specific schools of legal thought should not be superficial, shallow or slogan-like. Otherwise, they play only an ornamental role, not an argumentative one.

Keywords: schools of legal thought, justifications of judgments, Polish courts, judicial argumentation

Language: Polish

Published: Number 4(25)/2020, pp. 65-79.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2020.4.65

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Number of downloads: 654

Public Truths and Their Legal Protection

Dr Mateusz Klinowski

Jagiellonian University in Kraków

English abstract: In this paper I deal with two key concepts of a modern political theory, i.e. truth and public interest, and examine relationships between them. This subject seems particularly important in the context of the observed crisis of the liberal democracy and the spread of misinformation and fake news. I argue that there is a need to create a public system of protection designed to defend the logical status of those statements which have a value for the society. By using the notion of public interest as a tool for analysis, I demonstrate how such a system might be structured. I suggest employing existing public institutions to construct a system of public protection of the truth, yet supplemented by a coordinating body based on the ombudsman model.

Keywords: post-truth, disinformation, public interest, personal truths, public truths, factual knowledge, public protection of truth, ombudsman institutions, spokesman of truth

Language: English

Published: Number 3(24)/2020, pp. 7-23.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2020.3.7

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Number of downloads: 827

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