legal values

Remarks About the Axiological Dimension of the Polish Constitution of 1997 and Its Interpretation in the Light of Works of Professor Piotr Winczorek

Prof. UŚ dr hab. Sławomir Tkacz, Prof. dr hab. Zygmunt Tobor

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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Number of downloads: 299

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

Instrumentalization of Law and the Constitutional Crisis: Reflection on the Basis of Several Topical Findings of Professor Piotr Winczorek

Dr Marcin Romanowicz

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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Number of downloads: 346

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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: 324

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