The article ofers an analysis of the jurisprudence of administrative courts with regard to the way they interpret the definition of a family, used in the Act on family benefits. The practice of applying the concept of family for the purposes of establishing the income criterion entitling to apply for family benefits shows fundamental discrepancy in its understanding. On the one hand, it is related to the legal status of the applicant, and on the other hand, to the context of his actual state. The resulting problem concerns not only the lack of uniformity of jurisprudence, but also raises serious reservations in the systemic aspect. It undermines the way of identifying the family based on the criterion of origin, and thus in practice excludes the parents’ maintenance obligation towards their children, replacing it with public benefits.
The procedure of question of law to the Constitutional Tribunal (article 193 of the Constitution) allows both a court and the Tribunal to have a dialogue concerning the normative act which will determine an issue current before that court. This specific dialogue should be reflected in the explanatory part of the judgment. Moreover, the effectivity of that dialogue depends strictly upon the way Tribunal explains motives of the ruling and presents its argumentation. The explanation of the judgment does not have a status of universally binding and final statement of the Tribunal. However it should convince the court and other addressees of the judgment of the Tribunal’s interpretation of the constitutional norms taken into consideration in particular case. Explanation presented by the Tribunal should give a clear solution of the constitutional issue put forward by the court in its question of law. Only then the court may resolve individual case issuing a judgment which conforms to the Constitution.
This study is an analysis of Art. 18 of the Polish Constitution from a more general perspective, that is to say with regard to all the normative elements of this provision. Apart from the fact that Art. 18 is in the very first chapter of the Constitution, what determines its specificity is that it regulates the most important institutions of family law jointly and places them under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland. Te emphasis Art. 18 puts on the importance of marriage in the constitutional sense as the union of a man and a woman, the family, motherhood and parenthood, is to be associated with the provision of the right conditions for building and shaping interpersonal relationships. This applies both to spouses and individual family members, primarily parents and children. This more general context of Art. 18 is presented with reference to many of the statements made by the Constitutional Tribunal, whose rulings have repeatedly stressed the importance of Art. 18 as a key element of Poland’s constitutional axiology.
PL
Prezentowane opracowanie zawiera analizę treści art. 18 Konstytucji RP podejmowaną z perspektywy ogólniejszej, to znaczy w odniesieniu do wszystkich elementów treści normatywnej tego przepisu. Specyfika tej regulacji, oprócz tego, że art. 18 Konstytucji RP ujęto już w pierwszym rozdziale Konstytucji, wiąże się z łącznym unormowaniem najważniejszych instytucji prawa rodzinnego oraz objęciem ich gwarancją ochrony i opieki Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Podkreślenie znaczenia małżeństwa stanowiącego – w rozumieniu konstytucyjnym – związek kobiety i mężczyzny, rodziny, macierzyństwa i rodzicielstwa ma się wiązać z zapewnianiem odpowiednich warunków budowania więzi i kształtowania relacji międzyosobowych. Dotyczy to zarówno małżonków, jak i poszczególnych członków rodziny, a więc przede wszystkim rodziców i dzieci. Ten ogólniejszy kontekst analizowanego przepisu zaprezentowano, nawiązując do licznych wypowiedzi Trybunału Konstytucyjnego, który w swoich orzeczeniach wielokrotnie akcentował znaczenie art.18 Konstytucji RP jako ważnego elementu aksjologii konstytucyjnej.
The right to initiate a review of norms conferred on organs of local government units is limited at constitutional level primarily in relation to the scope of matters subject to such review. The proper delimitation of this power requires a reference to a wider normative context within which one can analyze the entitlement to act of those entities mentioned in Article 191 para. 1 subpara. 3 of the Constitution. This context is partly due to the constitutionally determined position of local government in the system of governance. This is connected to the fact of constitutionalization of the rights conferred on decision-making organs of local government units and the limited entitlement to act of those entities authorized to initiate a constitutional review. The third reference point is defi ned by the very purpose of review of the norms, which is pending before the Constitutional Tribunal and the specifi c interpretation of Article 191 para. 2 of the Constitution, containing a reference to „… matters relevant to the scope of activity” of the applicant.
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