Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej https://archiwum.ivr.org.pl Journal of the Polish Section of IVR (ISSN:2082-3304) Fri, 27 Feb 2026 09:49:08 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 The Use of the Power of Pardon by the President of the Republic of Poland in Light of Arguments Outside the Text of the Constitution – Legislative Materials and Established Practice (Case Study) https://archiwum.ivr.org.pl/7642/the-use-of-the-power-of-pardon-by-the-president-of-the-republic-of-poland-in-light-of-arguments-outside-the-text-of-the-constitution-legislative-materials-and-established-practice-case-stud/ https://archiwum.ivr.org.pl/7642/the-use-of-the-power-of-pardon-by-the-president-of-the-republic-of-poland-in-light-of-arguments-outside-the-text-of-the-constitution-legislative-materials-and-established-practice-case-stud/#respond Thu, 26 Feb 2026 21:24:48 +0000 https://archiwum.ivr.org.pl/?p=7642 Sławomir Piekarczyk

University of Silesia in Katowice

Zygmunt Tobor

University of Silesia in Katowice

English abstract: The case whereby the President of the Republic of Poland applied the right of pardon towards individuals who had not been validly convicted has revived ongoing discussions regarding whether such an action is consistent with the Constitution. The problematic aspect in this regard is not only the admissibility of so-called individual abolition but also the very manner of granting pardon while bypassing the procedure provided for in the Code of Criminal Procedure. Since the contentious nature of the issue arises from ambiguities in the Constitution’s text, this study’s research objective is to present useful tools outside of this text that may assist in its interpretation. To achieve this, an analysis of legislative materials from sessions of the National Assembly’s Constitutional Commission is conducted, and the established practice (constitutional custom) concerning the problematic issues is discussed. The research conclusions warrant the thesis that these extratextual arguments provide strong justifications for specific interpretative hypotheses. Regarding the first issue, the hypothesis is that the right of pardon does not encompass individual abolition. The hypothesis concerning the second issue is the inadmissibility of a procedure that bypasses the Code of Criminal Procedure regulations.

Key words: power of pardon, legislative materials, established practice, legal text interpretation

Language: polish

Published: Number 1(2026), pp. 5–21.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2026.1.5

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