A thematic collection of the “Archive of Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy”. Texts on the principles of law — their nature, their distinction from rules, and their role in constitutional argument. All articles are available free of charge in open access.
Principles as a distinct type of norm
The contemporary debate on legal principles was opened by Ronald Dworkin, who contrasted principles with rules in his polemic against positivism, and developed by Robert Alexy, who construed principles as optimisation requirements realised to varying degrees and balanced in cases of collision. In Polish legal theory the classic account was given in the monograph by Sławomira Wronkowska, Maciej Zieliński and Zygmunt Ziembiński, Zasady prawa. Zagadnienia podstawowe (1974). Principles remain a central category of constitutional argument and of the dispute over the limits of balancing values.
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)
- Uwagi na temat aksjologicznego wymiaru Konstytucji RP z 1997 r. i jej wykładni — Sławomir Tkacz, Zygmunt Tobor, No. 1(30)/2022 (in Polish)
- Prawo a wartości inne niż moralne. O poszukiwaniu tropów w pracach Józefa Nowackiego — Kamil Zeidler, No. 3(36)/2023 (in Polish)
- Robert Alexy’s Theory of Legal Principles — Milena Korycka, No. 1(1)/2010 (in English)
See also
Ronald Dworkin and the Debate with Positivism · Classics of Legal Theory and Philosophy · Law and Morality.
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.