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PL
W artykule przedstawiono – w oparciu o studium amerykańskiego orzecznictwa – pro-blematykę legalności prezentowania na nieruchomościach publicznych tablic i monumen-tów z inskrypcją Dziesięciu Przykazań. Sądy federalne i stanowe nie są zgodne w kwestii możliwości eksponowania przez władze publiczne Dekalogu w przestrzeni publicznej. Omawiane orzecznictwo znamionuje niespójność, kazuistyczność i niuansowość. Wyda-wanie przez sądy w analogicznych sprawach rozbieżnych rozstrzygnięć jest przede wszyst-kim następstwem braku konsensusu w judykaturze co do rozumienia konstytucyjnej zasady rozdziału kościoła i państwa. Autor podziela stanowisko tych sądów amerykań-skich, które oceniając niesprzeczność eksponowania Dziesięciu Przykazań na nierucho-mościach publicznych z wymogiem religijnej neutralności władz publicznych, biorą pod uwagę okoliczność, iż Dekalog posiada nie tylko religijny wymiar, ale również historycz-ny i kulturowy. Skoro Dekalog odegrał istotną rolę w ukształtowaniu się amerykańskie-go porządku społecznego i prawnego, to jego współczesne prezentowanie w przestrzeni publicznej niekoniecznie służy celom konfesyjnym czy prozelickim, lecz konstytucyj-nie akceptowanym celom edukacyjnym. Kluczowe w sądowej operacjonalizacji zasady rozdziału kościoła i państwa jest rozgraniczenie dopuszczalnego „uznania” doniosłości religii w życiu Amerykanów oraz w dziejach narodu i państwa od niekonstytucyjnego „poparcia” czy „promowania” religii przez władze publiczne.
EN
The article presents – based on the study of the U.S. case law – the issue of the legali-ty of Ten Commandments displays on government property. Federal and state courts do not agree on the constitutionality of Decalogue displays in a public space. The giv-en case law is characterized by incoherence, casuistry and nuance. The issuing of di-vergent decisions by the courts in analogous cases is primarily a consequence of the lack of consensus in the judicature regarding the understanding of the constitution-al principle of the separation of church and state. The author shares the stand of these American courts, which, while assessing the consistency of Ten Commandments dis-plays on public property with the requirement of religious neutrality of public author-ities, take into account the fact that the Decalogue has not only a religious dimension but also a historical and cultural ones. Since the Ten Commandments played an im-portant role in shaping the American legal and social order, its contemporary presenta-tion in public space does not necessarily serve confessional or proselytic purposes, but constitutionally accepted educational goals. It is crucial in the judicial operationaliza-tion of the Establishment Clause to make a distinction between the permissible “rec-ognition” of the religion’s significance in the lives of Americans and in the history of the Nation and the State on the one hand and the unconstitutional “advancement” of religion by the pubic authorities on the other hand.
PL
W artykule przybliżono i poddano ocenie wypracowaną w amerykańskiej jurysprudencji i judykaturze koncepcję ceremonialnego deizmu. Tytułowe pojęcie obejmuje jedną z kategorii aktów odwoływania się władz publicznych do Boga i religii, np. narodowe motto „W Bogu pokładamy ufność” czy słowa „jeden Naród, a nad nim Bóg” w rocie ślubowania wierności fladze państwowej. Sądy w USA uznają akty ceremonialnego deizmu jako zgodne z konstytucyjną zasadą rozdziału kościoła od państwa ze względu na to, iż postrzega się je jako pozbawione religijnego znaczenia (teza sekularyzacji), nieposiadające wyznaniowej natury, realizujące świeckie cele, wsparte tradycją i historią państwa i narodu, powszechne oraz społecznie niekontrowersyjne. W ocenie autora niniejsze rozumienie ceremonialnego deizmu wymaga korekty. Postuluje on odrzucić tezę sekularyzacji i wymóg niewyznaniowej natury aktu. Przekonuje, iż akty władzy odwołujące się do Boga są zgodne z Establishment Clause, gdy jednocześnie realizują doniosłe świeckie cele, nie mają charakteru dewocyjnego oraz stanowią świadectwo historii i tradycji danego państwa. Kryteria powszechności i niekontrowersyjności powinny natomiast, ze względu na ich wysoce ocenny i subiektywny charakter, pełnić jedynie pomocniczą rolę w weryfikacji legalności aktu prima facie religijnej ekspresji władzy publicznej. Koncepcja ceremonialnego deizmu właściwie rozumiana może stanowić – także poza Stanami Zjednoczonymi – wartościowe narzędzie do oceny konstytucyjności działań państwa.
EN
The paper deals with the notion of ceremonial deism, as it is understood in U.S. case law and jurisprudence. This term describes on kind of the government’s acts of symbolic references to God or religion, for example words „under God” in Pledge of Allegiance or the national motto – „In God We Trust”. American courts hold that particular forms of ceremonial deism are in accordance with the Establishment Clause due to their lack of a religious meaning (secularization thesis), nonsectarian nature, secular aims, historicity, ubiquity and non-controversiality. In the Author’s view, the above mentioned understanding of ceremonial deism is not fully proper. He calls on the rejection of secularization thesis and premise of non-sectarian nature. According to him, the public authorities’ acts of religious references are compliant with the Constitution when they perform significant secular aims, they do not have a devotional character and they constitute a testimony to the history and tradition of a particular country and its citizens. The criteria of ubiquity and non-controversiality may, due to its highly evaluative and subjective character, serve only a supportive role within the verification of the legality of a prima facie religious expression acts of the state. Theory of ceremonial deism, being understood properly, may constitute a valuable tool to evaluate the constitutionality of the public authority’s actions, also outside the United States.
PL
W artykule omówiono jedną z współczesnych amerykańskich teorii wykładni prawa, tj. oryginalizm zwykłego znaczenia (plain meaning originalism). Propagatorem i współtwórcą tej teorii jest sędzia Sądu Najwyższego USA Antonin Scalia. Scaliowski oryginalizm sprowadza wykładnię prawa do zespołu czynności intelektualnych ukierunkowanych na ustalenie zwykłego językowego znaczenia tekstu aktu normatywnego z momentu jego ogłoszenia. Można określić go zatem tekstualizmem bazującym na kompetencjach językowych pierwotnego prawodawcy i pierwotnych adresatów. Oryginalizm korzysta z dyrektyw interpretacyjnych językowych, a pomocniczo systemowych. Generalnie odrzuca natomiast sięganie do dyrektyw wykładni celowościowej i funkcjonalnej. Wyznacznikiem znaczenia prawa nie może być zamiar czy cel prawodawcy, lecz tekst prawny i tradycja. W ocenie Scalii prawo nie zmienia się samoczynnie, tj. pozalegislacyjnie, wraz ze zmianą społecznych potrzeb i oczekiwań. Krytykuje więc koncepcję „żyjącej konstytucji”, upatrując w niej źródło sędziowskiej dyskrecjonalności. Demokratycznie wybrani przez naród parlamentarzyści, a nie sędziowie powinni aktualizować prawo.
EN
This article discusses one of the contemporary American theories on interpretation, i.e. plain meaning originalism. The propagator and co-author of this theory is Antonin Scalia – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United State. Scalia’s originalism is a doctrine about how judges ought to interpret statutes and constitution according to their original meaning. Therefore we can define it with textualism based on language competence of the primary legislator and primary addressees. Originalism uses interpretative, language and system directives. In general it refuses using function and purposefulness. What determines the meaning of law is legal codes and tradition. According to Scalia law does not change automatically together with changes of social needs and expectations. He criticizes the concept of “living constitution” regarding it as a source of judicial discretionality. Members of parliament, elected in a democratic voting, should update the law, not judges.
EN
The paper shows the ECtHR’s practice of making references to judicial decisions made by the US Supreme Court. This issue is part of the problem of taking, by the courts in the decision-making process, foreign law into account as well as the wider phenomenon of the so-called judicial globalization. The quantitative study of the Strasbourg case law made it possible to draw a number of conclusions. First, although the ECtHR’s judgments which contain references to decisions of the highest court of the United States constitute a proportionally small fraction of all judgments, the absolute number of cases where the Strasbourg Court has made references to American case law is far from being small. Secondly, over the past decades, the process of making use of the US Supreme Court decisions by the Strasbourg Court has been noticeably intensified. Thirdly, statistically twice as often, the US Supreme Court decisions are referred to by individual ECtHR judges as authors of separate (dissenting or concurring) opinions than the Court itself. Fourth, the composition of the Court, i.e. whether it sits as a Chamber or as a Grand Chamber, does not have an impact on the operationalization of the issue in question. Fifthly, the readfilled by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation and several other organizations against the National Security Agency (NSA), the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and others, alleging mass surveillance of Wikipedia users carried out by the NSA. The lawsuit states that the upstream surveillance system violates the first amendment to the United States Constitution, which protects freedom of speech, and the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits unjustified searches and seizures. The ACLU lawsuit was filled on behalf of almost a dozen educational, legal, human rights-related and media organizations which jointly engage in trillions of confidential online communications and have been harmed by upstream supervision. Pre-surveillance procedures hinder the plaintiffs’ ability to ensure basic confidentiality of their communications with key contacts abroad – including journalists, co-workers, clients, victims of human rights abuses, and tens of millions of people who read and edit Wikipedia pages. Pre-surveillance procedures, which, as the government claims, are authorized by the Section 702 of the FISA Amendment Act, aim to trap all the international communications of Americans, including emails, web browsing content and search engine queries. With the help of companies such as Verizon and AT&T, the NSA has installed monitoring devices on the Internet – a backbone network, a network of high-capacity cables, switches and routers allowing the flow of the Internet traffic. These goals, chosen by intelligence analysts, are never approved by any court, and the existing restrictions are weak and full of exceptions. According to Section 702, the NSA may attack any foreigner who is outside the United States and may provide “intelligence from abroad”. The number of people under surveillance is huge and includes journalists, academic researchers, corporations, social workers, entrepreneurs and other people who are not suspected of any misconduct. After the victory of Wikimedia in the fourth circuit in May 2017, the case returned to the district court where Wikimedia was looking for documents and testimonies submitted by the Supreme Administrative Court. The government refused to comply with many requests for a disclosure of Wikimedia, citing the “privilege of state secrecy” to hide the basic facts of both Wikimedia as well as the court. Wikimedia contested the government’s unjustified use of confidentiality in order to protect its supervision from surveillance, but in August 2018 the District Court upheld it. Their work is necessary for the functioning of democracy. When their sensitive and privileged communication is being monitored by the US government, they cannot work freely and their effectiveness is limited – to the detriment of Americans and others around the world. Therefore, mass surveillance leads to social self-control, but in the most undesirable form which means restriction in exercising one’s own rights, including freedom of expression, for fear of sanctions on the part of public authorities. In this way, the measures known from totalitarian regimes are introduced into a democratic state. At the same time, this process happens in a secret way, because formally, the individual still has the same rights and freedoms. In this way, mass surveillance causes damage not only to single individuals, but to the entire state as it undermines the foundations of its system. Not without reason, according to the well-established jurisprudence of the ECtHR, the primary purpose of the legal safeguards established for the secret surveillance programs conducted by states is to reduce the risk of abuse of power. However, is it possible to establish such safeguards in the case of mass surveillance programs? In accordance with the standards introduced by the ECtHR, statutory provisions should specify at least the category of offences that may involve authorization of the use of surveillance measures, as well as a limitation on the maximum duration of their application. In the case of mass surveillance, it is no longer possible to fulfil the first of the indicated safeguards, because the essence of the use of this type of measures is to intercept all communications, and not only communications concerning persons suspected of committing specific crimes. However, the reasons for the repeated belief that non-offenders should not be afraid of surveillance are also worth of detailed analysis. In fact, the supporters of this point of view believe that information which can be obtained about them does not reveal secrets they would not like to share with others. This belief completely overlooks one of the most important features of mass surveillance which is acquisition of data from various sources and their aggregation and correlation, and in the final stage – drawing new conclusions. As a rule, these conclusions go beyond the original scope of information, thus they create new knowledge about the persons subject to surveillance. It can be the knowledge about their preferences (not only shopping, but also e.g. political or sexual), expected behavior, profile of decision-making, but also the circle of friends or existing social relations. The process of acquiring new his/her nationality and the type of legal culture of his/her home country. On the other hand, the distinction between judges from the West and East of Europe is of some significance. Finally, the communication between the European Court of Human Rights and the US Supreme Court is characterized by a clear asymmetry, in the sense that the judgments of the Strasbourg Court were referred to in just a few decisions of the American court. In the author’s view, the American case law may only play a subsidiary role in the comparative analysis of the ECtHR. The primary reference point for the Strasbourg Court should be the European Convention on Human Rights, case-law developed by that Court and the law of the Member States of the Council of Europe.
PL
W artykule przedstawiono praktykę odwoływania się w orzecznictwie Europejskiego Trybunału Praw Człowieka do wyroków Sądu Najwyższego Stanów Zjednoczonych. Zagadnienie to wpisuje się w problematykę komparatystycznego uwzględniania przez sądy prawa obcego w procesie orzeczniczym oraz w szersze zjawisko tzw. sądowej globalizacji. Kwantytatywne studium orzecznictwa strasburskiego pozwoliło na sformułowanie kilku głównych wniosków. Po pierwsze, jakkolwiek orzeczenia ETPC zawierające odniesienia do wyroków amerykańskiego Sądu Najwyższego stanowią proporcjonalnie niewielki ułamek wszystkich orzeczeń, to jednocześnie mierząc w liczbach bezwzględnych przypadki powoływania się przez trybunał strasburski na amerykańskie case law nie są marginalne czy sporadyczne. Po drugie, na przestrzeni ostatnich dekad można zaobserwować wyraźną intensyfikację sięgania w orzecznictwie strasburskim do wyroków Sądu Najwyższego USA. Po trzecie, statystycznie dwukrotnie częściej amerykańskie orzecznictwo przywołują poszczególni sędziowie ETPC jako autorzy zdań odrębnych lub zbieżnych niż sam Trybunał. Po czwarte wpływu na operacjonalizację tytułowego zagadnienia nie posiada skład, w jakim orzeka Trybunał, tj. izba lub wielka izba. Po piąte, gotowość sięgnięcia przez sędziego ETPC do wyroków amerykańskiego Sądu Najwyższego jest niezależna od jego narodowości i typu kultury prawnej jego państwa macierzystego. Pewne znaczenie posiada natomiast w tym względzie podział na sędziów z państw Europy Zachodniej i Wschodniej. W końcu dyskurs na linii ETPC a Sąd Najwyższy USA znamionuje wyraźna asymetria, w tym sensie że wyroki trybunału strasburskiego przywołano w zaledwie kilku orzeczeniach amerykańskiego sądu. W ocenie autora amerykańskie case law może pełnić rolę jedynie subsydiarną w komparatystycznej analizie ETPC. Pierwszorzędnym punktem odniesienia dla trybunału strasburskiego musi pozostać Europejska Konwencja Praw Człowieka, jego dotychczasowe własne orzecznictwo oraz prawo państw członkowskich Rady Europy.
PL
Autor w pierwszej kolejności wyjaśnia pojęcie „uchwały okolicznościowej”. Uchwała okolicznościowa Senatu stanowi solenną, symboliczną, niewiążącą i niewładczą formę parlamentarnej ekspresji. Przedmiotowy rodzaj uchwały nie jest ani aktem normatywnym (źródłem prawa), ani aktem stosowania prawa. Uchwała okolicznościowa nie przynależy do systemu prawnego, lecz jest częścią szerszej kategorii porządku prawnego. Wyróżnia się dwa typy uchwał okolicznościowych, mianowicie właściwe uchwały okolicznościowe i tzw. uchwały problemowe. Pierwsze służą do upamiętniania narodowych bohaterów i ważnych wydarzeń w historii i tradycji narodu oraz państwa. Przy pomocy drugich Senat odnosi się do bieżących spraw krajowych i zagranicznych. W tej formie senatorowie zwracają się do konkretnych organów władzy o podjęcie stosownych działań potrzebnych do osiągnięcia antycypowanych przez izbę parlamentarną celów. W kolejnej części opracowania przedstawiono procedurę podejmowania uchwał okolicznościowych, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem różnic w stosunku do procedury przyjmowania zwykłych uchwał. Autor odniósł się do odpowiednich postanowień regulaminu Senatu, włącznie z jego nowelizacją z dnia 20 czerwca 2013 r. Ostatnia część artykułu jest poświęcona uchwałom okolicznościowym w parlamentarnej praktyce Senatu w latach 1997–2013. Autor podaje dane statystyczne dotyczące niniejszych uchwał, zamieszczając je w trzech tabelach. Bazując na badaniach ilościowych, wskazuje, że liczba uchwał okolicznościowych zwiększyła się z 5 w Senacie czwartej kadencji do 38 w Senacie siódmej kadencji. Rozważania autor konkluduje stwierdzeniem, że uchwały okolicznościowe są częścią polityki historycznej państwa. Przy ich pomocy izba wyższa „strzeże dziedzictwa narodowego”, jak wymaga tego art. 5 Konstytucji RP, oraz „przekazuje przyszłym pokoleniom wszystko, co cenne z ponad tysiącletniego dorobku” RP, jak wskazuje preambuła ustawy zasadniczej.
EN
The author at the outset clarifies the title concept of „commemorative resolution”. The Senat’s commemorative resolution is a symbolic, nonbinding, nonauthoritative and solemn form of parliamentary expression. The given kind of resolution is neither normative act (source of law) nor an act of law administration. It doesn’t belong to the legal system, but is part of the broader construct of the legal order. There are two types of commemorative resolutions, namely commemorative resolutions in the strict sense and the so called problem resolutions. The first ones serve to pay tribute to national heroes and to commemorate important moments in the nation’s and the state’s history and tradition. With the second ones the Senat usually addresses the current domestic and international affairs. In this form MPs turn to specified authorities to take appropriate actions to achieve the desired purposes anticipated by parliament. The next part of the article presents the procedure for adopting commemorative resolutions, in particular with an emphasis on the aspects distinguishing it from the procedure for adopting ordinary resolutions. The author references to relevant provisions of The Standing Orders of the Senat including it’s amendment introduced in the Resolution of 20 June 2013. The last section of the study deals with commemorative resolutions in the Senat’s parliamentary practice in the years 1997–2013. The author gives statistical data related to these resolutions and contained in three tables. Based on quantitative research He indicates that number of commemorative resolutions has increased from 5 in the Senat of the fourth term to 38 in the Senat of the seventh term. Finally, the author concludes that commemorative resolutions are part of the historical policy of the state. In this way, the upper house „safeguards the national heritage”, as required by article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and „bequeaths to future generations all that is valuable from over one thousand years’ (Poland’s) heritage” as referred to in the preamble to the same act.
PL
Przysięga Prezydenta to uroczyste oświadczenie składane wobec Zgromadzenia Narodowego, w którym głowa państwa przyrzeka dochować wierności postanowieniom Konstytucji, strzec niezłomnie godności Narodu, niepodległości i bezpieczeństwa Państwa, a dobro Ojczyzny oraz pomyślność obywateli mieć zawsze za najwyższy nakaz. Przysięgę złożyli wszyscy prezydenci Polski, od Gabriela Narutowicza w 1922 r. do Bronisława Komorowskiego w 2010 r. Na przestrzeni 90 lat zmieniała się rota przysięgi oraz jej forma. W dwudziestoleciu międzywojennym prezydencka przysięga miała charakter religijny, co było artykułowane słowami „Przysięgam Panu Bogu Wszechmogącemu w Trójcy Świętej Jedynemu”. Po drugiej wojnie światowej, w latach 1947-1952, przysięga częściowo utraciła swój sakralny wymiar, chociaż jej rotę wciąż kończyła obligatoryjna religijna inwokacja. Obecnie, a dokładnie od 1992 r. świecka przysięga może być opcjonalnie zwieńczona zdaniem „Tak mi dopomóż Bóg”. Prezydencka przysięga jest szczególnym rodzajem instytucji prawnej, w której krzyżują się wpływy różnych systemów normatywnych. W instytucji tej prawo łączy się z moralnością, religią i zwyczajem. Prawna doniosłość prezydenckiej przysięgi przejawia się przede wszystkim w tym, że zaprzysiężenie jest koniecznym warunkiem do objęcia urzędu głowy państwa. Naruszenie przysięgi może być natomiast jedną z – bo raczej nie jedyną – podstawą pociągnięcia Prezydenta do odpowiedzialności konstytucyjnej przed Trybunał Stanu. Zaprzysiężenie jest najważniejszym elementem prezydenckiej inauguracji. Oficjalny harmonogram pierwszego dnia kadencji głowy państwa obejmuje ponadto przejęcie zwierzchnictwa nad Siłami Zbrojnymi oraz przekazanie insygniów dwóch najwyższych rangą polskich orderów (Order Orła Białego i Order Odrodzenia Polski). Charakter prywatny posiada z kolei udział Prezydenta w tym dniu w uroczystej mszy świętej w warszawskiej archikatedrze. Charakterystyka instytucji prezydenckiej przysięgi wymaga wzięcia pod uwagę obok litery prawa także jej praktyki. Analiza materiału normatywnego musi iść w parze z empirycznym studium przypadków.
EN
The President’s oath of office is a solemn declaration taken in the presence of the National Assembly by which a new head of state swears to be faithful to the provisions of the Constitution; to steadfastly safeguard the dignity of the Nation, the independence and security of the State, and also that the good of the Homeland and the prosperity of its citizens shall forever remain his supreme obligation. The oath of office has been taken by all Presidents of the Republic of Poland, from Gabriel Narutowicz in 1922 to Bronisław Komorowski in 2010. Over the span of 90 years the words and the form of the oath of office were subject to changes. In the interwar period, the President’s oath of office was religious in nature and was articulated in following words „I swear to Almighty God, One in the Holy Trinity”. After World War II, i.e. between 1947 and 1952, the President’s oath of office partially lost its sacral dimension, although it was still ended with obligatory Invocatio Dei. Nowadays, namely from 1992, secular oath of office may also be optionally taken with the additional sentence „So help me, God”. President’s oath of office is an example of a specific type of legal institution that originated from interaction between different normative systems. This institution combines law with morality, religion and custom. Legal relevancy of the President’s oath of office reveals itself in the fact that swearing-in is a condition which President has to fulfill to take over the office. Whereas infringement of the oath of office can be one of the grounds, rather than the only ground, for Presidential impeachment before The Tribunal of State. Swearing-in is a crucial element of Presidential inauguration. Official schedule of the first day of the Presidential term also contains taking control of the Armed Forces and receiving insignia of the two highest polish orders (The Order of the White Eagle and The Order of Polonia Restituta). The President also participates in the Eucharist held in the Archcathedral in Warsaw, which is rather a private ceremony. Characteristic of the given institution requires not only the analysis of the law but also its practice. Analysis of statues and other normative acts should be accompanied by empirical case study.
PL
Prawny obowiązek złożenia przysięgi może kłócić się z prawami podstawowymi jednostki, w szczególności z wolnością sumienia i religii. Istnieją różne sposoby usuwania tego typu kolizji w poszczególnych państwach, np. możliwość złożenia pozbawionego odniesień do sfery sacrum ślubowania w miejsce przysięgi czy dopuszczalność jednostkowego modyfikowania roty przysięgi. Niniejsze rozwiązania posiadają swoje umocowanie albo w przepisach prawnych, albo w praktyce orzeczniczej. Nie zawsze jednak są one w pełni responsywne wobec możliwych obiekcji sumienia. W ocenie autora zamiast derogowania tytułowej instytucji z porządków prawnych, należy nadać tekstom przysięgi „odpowiednią” postać – tj. odsyłającą do względnie uniwersalnych wartości – oraz zgodzić się na pewien stopień elastyczności interpretacji prawa. Obowiązek złożenia przysięgi i obowiązek poszanowania praw podstawowych można postrzegać jako optymalizacyjne nakazy, a najwłaściwszym sposobem usuwania kolizji pomiędzy nimi w konkretnej sprawie jest zastosowanie metody proporcjonalnego wyważenia, zgodnie z teorią zasad prawa Roberta Alexy’ego.
EN
Legal obligation to take the oath may interfere with the fundamental rights of the individual, especially with freedom of conscience and religion. In the particular states there are various ways to remove these type of collision, for example, the ability to take affirmation in place of the oath-taking or the extraordinary admissibility of the oath’s text modification. The given options are anchored in the statute law provisions or in the judicial practice. Not always, however, the indicated solutions are fully responsive to possible conscientious objections. In the author’s view, instead of derogation of the title institution from legal orders, oaths’ texts should attain the “appropriate” form – ie. oath wording refers to a relatively universal values –and a certain degree of flexibility in the interpretation of the law is needed. The obligation to take the oath and obligation to respect fundamental rights may be seen as the optimization requirements, and the most proper way to remove conflicts between them in a particular case is to use the method of proportional weighing in accordance with the Robert Alexy’s theory of legal principles.
PL
The Institution of the Oath of Office of Head of State in European States
EN
This article as one of the first in legal – not only polish-language – literature presents a comparative analysis of the issue of a head of state’s oath of office. The paper underlines differences, similarities and peculiarities in legal regulations of the institution of the oath of office in regard to European presidents and monarchs. The study touches especially on such topics as the oath formula, its optional or obligatory religious dimension, the time of taking the oath, the subject which officially receives it, consequences of taking the oath and legal effects of the oath’s infringement. The basic normative analysis, both on constitutional and statutory level, was supplemented with remarks on the practice of the given institution, for example the oath’s taking ceremony. Description of presidential or royal authority in particular states is not complete without a reference to the institution of the oath of office. The arguments undertaken in the article aim to prove that the title subject cumulates several relevant issues, which are noteworthy for jurisprudence. Taking the oath of office by any president or monarch is not so much a solemn symbolic event as conventional activity important in view of the legal order.
EN
The article is a comparative study of constitutional references to natural law, with a particular emphasis on the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. The findings presented in the study are both of qualitative and quantitative nature. References to natural law, recognized in the constitutions of 48 countries in the world, relate almost exclusively to fundamental human rights and freedoms. Usually, the constitution-maker assigns the title “natural” or “inherent” to all fundamental rights of person or to some of them. In none of the Basic Laws, natural law has been included into formal sources of law, nor its hierarchical relation to positive law shown. No constitution specifies a definite concept of natural law. The authors of the constitutions, speaking generally about natural rights, have not wanted to engage in philosophical and legal disputes accompanying the category of ius naturale.
PL
Artykuł stanowi komparatystyczne studium konstytucyjnych odwołań do prawa naturalnego, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem Konstytucji RP. Przedstawione w opracowaniu ustalenia są natury zarówno jakościowej, jak i ilościowej. Rozpoznane w konstytucjach 48 państw świata odniesienia do prawa naturalnego dotyczą niemal wyłącznie podstawowych praw i wolności człowieka. Zwykle ustrojodawca miano praw „naturalnych” lub „przyrodzonych” przypisuje albo wszystkim prawom fundamentalnym jednostki, albo poszczególnym z nich. W żadnej z ustaw zasadniczych prawa naturalnego nie zaliczono do formalnych źródeł prawa, jak i nie wskazano jego relacji hierarchicznej do prawa pozytywnego. W żadnej też z konstytucji nie określono konkretnej koncepcji prawa naturalnego. Twórcy konstytucji mówiąc ogólnie o prawach naturalnych nie chcieli angażować się w spory filozoficzno-prawne towarzyszące kategorii ius naturale.
EN
Judicial oath of office is a solemn declaration and attestation taken publicly in a prescribed form, by which a newly appointed judge obliges himself both to accomplish properly his professional duties and to respect essential values and principles pertinent to judicial deontology. The origin of the present institution dates back to times of ancient Rome, where it was called iusiurandum. The paper presents institution of judicial oath of office in the Polish legal order, especially since 1918 to nowadays. Over the span of nearly one century the analyzed institution has undergone relevant changes. In the interwar period the judicial oath of office lost its religious dimension. Up to this time the oath nominally had been taken to God, which was articulated in the following words: “I swear by Almighty God”. At present the oath’s text is secular, although a judge can optionally complete his swearing-in with the following invocation: “So help me God”. In the Second Polish Republic and in the People’s Republic of Poland judges took the oath before presidents of the particular types of courts or before Minister of Justice. Since 1989 the judicial oath is taken before the President of Poland, who at the same time appoints judges on the motion of the National Council of the Judiciary of Poland. In conjunction with the installation of communist government in Poland in 1944 the judicial oath’s words was submitted to political ideologization. This process reached its fullness on the ground of the 1985 statute. Ignoring the above-mentioned fact, one can state that the judicial oath’s text in the presented time frame has included similar rules and guidelines governing judicial behaviour, which can be classified into two groups. First category relates to relations between a judge on one side and the Polish state or the Polish Nation on the other side. By this part of the oath a judge expresses his patriotism toward homeland. Second category of rules refers to principles of judicial deontology, i.e. obligations functionally connected with jurisdictional activity. Judges in Poland solemnly swear to uphold the law, to fulfill judge’s duties conscientiously, to dispense justice lawfully and impartially according to their consciences, to keep state and official secret, and – finally – to be guided in their conduct as judges by principle of dignity and principle of fairness. Legal rules do not, apart from plain text, regulate the etiquette of taking the judicial oath of office. The course of swearing-in ceremony is in high degree a result of over twenty-one-year customary practice of the President’s Chancellery. There is a need, motivated by legal certainty and security, to fix, even if out of necessity only generally, in the form of a normative act both the form and the procedure of judicial swearing-in. One should also place a referral to the judicial oath of office in the Collection of Principles of Judge’s Professional Ethics because the oath embodies fundamental principles that guide every member of the judge’s fraternity. The author of the article postulates to determine in a statute a few further issues, such as consequences of the oath's infringement (disciplinary punishments) or sanctions for refusing to take the oath (invalidity of appointment act). The taking of the judicial oath of office is a condition to the admission to administer justice, to authoritatively deciding cases. In other words this requirement constitutes conditio sine qua non of judge’s jurisdictional activity. Normative sense of the present institution coexists with its symbolic dimension as a source of professional identity. Every judge must remember that the oath is not a mere formality to be forgotten afterwards. It’s some kind of a sacred trust that judges should keep inviolable regardless of circumstances. Tenets of morality written in the text of the oath comprise a compass pointing at the best path of judicial career.
EN
The discussed decision refers to the issue of constitutionality of religious symbols on public property. The Supreme Court ruled that 32-foot tall Latin cross erected nearly a century ago to commemorate soldiers who died in World War I did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Court correctly holds that the religiously expressive monument me be retained for the sake of its historical significance and its place in a common cultural heritage. However, it gives rise to concerns that the Supreme Court set forth a presumption of consti- tutionality for only “longstanding” monuments, symbols, and practices. Similarly, the Court properly emphasizing the nonreligious meaning and functions of the contested cross, at the same time unduly underestimated its religious dimension. There is no need to overlook deeply Christian nature of the cross, when simultane- ously exhibiting its cultural and historical importance.
EN
The article deals with anti-homosexual speech as constitutionally protected political expression in the United States. Study of the U.S. case law shows that the title freedom has not only a theoretical or normative dimension but also a practical one belonging to the so called “law in action”. Criticizing same-sex practices as immoral and sinful falls within the protection of the First Amendment. A necessary incident to freedom of speech is also the right of expressive association, that is the right to get together with other people with a view of promoting particular viewpoints or ideas, including beliefs that engaging in homosexual conduct is contrary to being “morally straight”. Public debate demands that even hurtful speech on public issues be shielded from prosecution and liability. Disapproval of anti-homosexual rhetoric does not allow the State to interfere with this speech for no better reason than discouraging a disfavored message. The author urges to make responsible use of freedom of speech. Condemnation of homosexual behavior should always respect the dignity of homosexual men and women.
EN
The paper deals with the Strasbourg case law on various aspects of the abortion debate. The article discusses eight cases heard by the European Commission on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights. Five of them refer to reglamentation of anti-abortion speech, while the other three cases refer to infringement of freedom of expression in the context of a pro-choice campaign. Based on the decisions of the ECHR and judgments of the ECtHR it is impossible to reconstruct a clear framework for the conduct of public discourse on abortion. Strasbourg case law on the subject is incoherent and inconsistent. The European Court of Human Rights applies the doctrine of margin of appreciation in a selective and largely unpredictable way. Verification of the proportionality requirement – within the meaning of Art. 10 § 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights – in cases involving restrictions on freedom of expression is permeated by wide judicial discretion. One gets the impression that the ECHR with varying degrees of rigor and accuracy, or even using a double standard, decides cases of pro- and anti-abortion speech reglamentation. The paradigm according to which freedom of speech includes speech that „offends, shocks or disturbs” does not appear to be applicable to the activity of the pro-life community, a tendency evidenced by questionable judgments in Van Den Dungen and Hoffer und Annen cases.
EN
The article presents the results of a mainly qualitative study of the speeches of deputies at the sittings of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland between 1997 and 2021 in terms of MPs’ references to natural law. On the basis of the Sejm transcripts, the deputies’ understanding of natural law and their perception of the relationship between this law and the statutory law were determined; examples of legal norms and rights that were assigned the natural law status were indicated, as well as the argumentative role of references to natural law in the parliamentary debate was presented. While approving the use of jusnaturalist argumentation in parliamentary discourse, the author also raised some reservations as to the practice of using this conceptual category by deputies. He also listed possible reasons for the gradual decrease in the number of cases of invoking natural law in the speeches of deputies at the sittings of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland in subsequent terms.
EN
The article approximates and critically assesses the philosophical and legal argumentation of deputies contained in their speeches at the sittings of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland of the 8th term (2015–2019). It discusses cases where parliamentarians, among other things, referred to the assumptions of particular philosophical-legal schools; commented on the essence, features, goals and values of law; argued about the optimal degree of positivisation of moral norms; quoted philosophers. The study revealed the influ-ence of the party affiliation of MPs on their philosophical and legal argumentation. Deputies of the Law and Justice Party more often than others referred in their speeches to the axiology of law and natural law, emphasized the importance of justice and equity in the process of enacting and applying the law, and underlined the role of social legitimacy of normative acts and court rulings. On the other hand, MPs belonging to the parliamentary opposition — especially the Civic Platform and the Modern Party members — high-lighted the formal rule of law, opposed bills perceived as moralistic and confessional, and sought in justice and equity as the criteria for judgements the sources of excessive judicial discretion that threatened legal certainty and security. In the author’s view, the broadly understood philosophy of law has a utilitarian value for the parliamentary debate. It is desirable, however, that MPs’ re-marks of a philosophical and legal nature should be part of factual argumentation, and not reduced to superficial rhetoric or linguis-tic ornamentation.
EN
The article discusses the issue of using religious arguments by deputies while considering bills at the sitting of the Sejm. The author critically assesses the so-called doctrine of exclusivism, which postulates a total exclusion of religious arguments from political discourse. Next, he justifies the thesis that appealing to religious reasons by deputies in the course of parliamentary work is not contrary to the constitutional principle of worldview impartiality of public authorities. Finally, based on the empirical study, he presents quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the operationalization of religious rhetoric in the legislative process in the Sejm of the 8th term. It turns out that MPs of all political groups appeal to religious arguments and they do it rather seldom. The state of affairs in which members of liberal and leftist parties themselves – identifying themselves with postulates of the exclusivist doctrine and even regarding them as a legal requirement – use religious argumentation, testifies to their political opportunism and ideological interpretation of the constitutional principle of religious impartiality of public authorities. The author postulates the avoidance of instrumental treatment of religion in the political debate.
EN
The article deals with the issue of legality of displaying Christmas symbols, in particular creche, on public property. The problem is considered in the context of the constitutional freedom of speech and the Establishment Clause in the U.S. legal order. In the case law it is assumed that a presentation of creche in public space is constitutional, provided that the Nativity scene is a part of a display also featuring secular holiday symbols, such as Santa Claus, reindeer, snowman or Christmas tree. According to the author, the so-called “plastic reindeer rule” trivializes religion and reduces creche to a fairy-tale ornamentation. The author is of the opinion that public authorities can constitutionally use an “unsecularised” symbol of creche to show historical, religious origin of Christmas.
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