University of Silesia in Katowice

English abstract: This article is an extended and supplemented version of the address given during the scientific conference dedicated to Professor Piotr Winczorek. The authors made an attempt to reconstruct theory-of-law views based on the statements of Piotr Winczorek. The subject of the research was especially issues related to the axiology of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. In the course of research such issues as the concept of the legal order in the light of constitutional provisions, constitutional values, constitutional principles, and sources of law were taken up. One of the interesting problems emphasized by Piotr Winczorek was whether the basic law should be frugal in terms of manifesting values. The research is supplemented by an analysis of the problems of legal interpretation in the works of Piotr Winczorek. The conducted analyses enable formulating a general conclusion that many problems raised by Piotr Winczorek are referred to in the current constitutional disputes. Therefore, it is worthwhile to refer to the works of Professor Winczorek, whose statements can be treated as an authentic interpretation of the Polish Constitution of 1997.

Keywords: Piotr Winczorek, theory of law, legal interpretation, Constitution of the Republic of Poland, legal values, legal principles

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(30)/2022, pp. 113-125

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2022.1.113

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University of Warsaw

English abstract: The instrumentalization of law is one of the most important research issues that belong to the achievements of Professor Piotr Winczorek. Combining the problem of the limits of permissible instrumentalization of law with the issue of the axiology of law, he adopted a non-reductionist position and indicated the autotelic values of law, as well as non-legal values implemented by the legal system as the criteria for assessing acts of instrumentalization of law. Based on careful observation of the legal practice, primarily the actions of the legislature, he proposed a typology of various cases of pathological instrumentalization of law.

A list of individual acts of enacting and applying the law that can be distinguished in the ongoing constitutional crisis in Poland, broken down by the types indicated by Prof. Winczorek, leads to the conclusion that not only is his typology still valid, but it also can be used as an adequate tool for an in-depth description of the ongoing crisis. Moreover, it enables the indication of yet another threat to the legal order, i.e. attempts to instrumentalize constitutional values. In the face of this danger, it is justified to formulate the postulate of giving the constitution an axiological interpretation, the aim of which would be to read a given legal principle in the hermeneutic context of the axiological system from which said legal principle derives genealogically.

Keywords: instrumentalization of law, typology of instrumentalization acts, legal axiology, legal values, constitutional values, legal principles, axiological interpretation of law

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(30)/2022, pp. 74-90

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2022.1.74

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Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń

English abstract: This article concerns Robert Alexy’s conception of legal principles, which conception he builds on the basis of an analysis of constitutional norms. The main assumption of his conception of rights is that in this field it is necessary to use the theory of principles as the basis. He created his own theory of principles as norms which require realization to the greatest extent possible in the light of legal and actual possibilities. Consequently, he defines principles as optimisation commands, capable of different degrees of realization depending on the actual and legal possibilities. The dimension of the legal possibility depends on the contrasting principles and rules. R. Alexy treats rules and principles as reasons of different kinds. While principles are always prima facie reasons, rules are definitive reasons until an exception to them is provided for. R. Alexy claims also that the nature of principles implies the existence of the principle of proportionality in the sense that the principle of proportionality with its three “sub-principles”: adequacy, necessity and proportionality in the strict sense, logically follows from the nature of principles and can be inferred from them

Keywords: Robert Alexy, legal principles, principle of proportionality
(keywords supplied by the editors)

Language: Polish

Published: Number 1(1)/2010, pp. 48-63.

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Number od downloads: 1,420

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