Tajemnica spowiedzi w regulacjach Kodeksu postępowania cywilnego i Kodeksu postępowania karnego – uwagi de lege lata i postulaty de lege ferenda

• Authors: Skibińska Magdalena , Kowalski Sebastian

Title variants

EN

Confession secret in the regulations of the Code of Civil Procedure and the Code of Criminal Procedure – comments de lege lata and postulates de lege ferenda

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

PL

From the authors’ point of view the seal of confession hasn’t been properly protected in the two most important acts regulating proceedings before common courts: the Code of Penal Procedure and the Code of Civil Procedure. Although in the first one a hearing of witness-clergyman is prohibited, a hearing of another witness who overheard the content of a confession in particular by means of a covert listening device isn’t de lege lata excluded. On the other hand, in the Code of Civil Procedure the legislator limited the relevant regulation to granting a clergyman the right to refuse to testify the facts conferred to him during a confession which, however, doesn’t exclude the use of their knowledge in case they don’t execute their right. And yet, a confession belongs to the most intimate, personal religious practices that condition salvation. Therefore, for believers it is one of the most important religious practices that should be subject to the most extensive protection. Keeping the content of a confession in secret is a sine qua non condition for ensuring freedom of conscience. Hence, the authors propose a change of the current regulation. They assume that - in both - the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Code of Civil Procedure, the scope of protection of the seal of confession should be the same. It should include an absolute prohibition of proving the content of a confession. The study contains specific proposals for legislative amendments.

• Publisher: Kancelaria Prezesa Rady Ministrów
• Journal: Przegląd Legislacyjny
• Year: 2021
• Issue: PL 2 (116)
• Pages: 49-70

Contributors

author

Skibińska Magdalena

• Uniwersytet Zielonogórski - University of Zielona Góra

author

Kowalski Sebastian

• Uniwersytet Zielonogórski - University of Zielona Góra