EN
The organisation and functioning of a democratic state ruled by law is based on the system of principles and legal institutions. The sine qua non condition of the effective implementation of this concept is the coherence (unification) of legal order. The latter presupposes, in turn, the systemic approach to positive law. The paper analyses the provisions of the Social Assistance Act which do not meet these requirements. This allows the author to specify the most serious threats resulting from the described deficit (these primarily involve non-compliance with the standards which define the legal bases for administrative decisions and the provisions allowing for the interventions in the area of municipal activities). The conclusion off ers suggestions as to how the diagnosed deficiencies could be corrected.