Topic: Judicial power in Poland

Author: Anna Rabiega

Addressee:

high school / technical school student

Core curriculum:

• old curriculum:

standard level:

2. Law and Courts.

The student:

5) justifies the need for autonomy and independence of judges.

extended level:

31. Courts and Tribunals.

The student:

3) presents the judiciary structure in Poland and explains the role of the Supreme Court and of the National Council of the Judiciary.

• new curriculum:

standard level:

III. Public authorities in the Republic of Poland.

The student:

10) presents the structure of the common and administrative judiciary in the Republic of Poland and the tasks of the Supreme Court; justifies the need for autonomy of courts and independence of judges.

extended level:

X. Control of authorities.

The student:

7) demonstrates the role of the National Council of the Judiciary and of the Supreme Court in the Republic of Poland (...);

8) explains the role of the administrative courts in the control of authorities’ decisions; presents the structure of the Supreme Administrative Court and its role in the Republic of Poland.

The general aim of education:

Student presents the functioning of the political system of the Republic of Poland.

Learning outcomes:

The student:

• explains the meaning of constitutional principles of Polish courts functioning.

• analyses the guarantees of judicial independence.

• presents the competence, organisation and functioning of Polish courts.

Key competences:

• communicating in a foreign language,

• digital competence,

• learning to learn,

• social and civic competences.

Teaching methods:

• discussion,

• mind map,

• snowball method,

• teaching conversation using interactive scheme, interactive exercises.

Forms of work:

• self‑learning,

• group work,

• whole‑class activity.

Material & equipment needed:

• computers with loudspeakers/headphones and internet access,

• multimedia resources from the e‑textbook,

• interactive whiteboard/blackboard, felt‑tip pen/a piece of chalk.

Lesson plan overview (Process):

Introduction:

1. The teacher presents the goal of the lesson: You will find out how Polish courts operate.

2. The teacher asks students to recall the principle of tripartition of power in the Republic of Poland. The teacher asks which authorities are responsible for execution of each type of power. Willing/selected students give their answers. The teacher corrects and complements the students' statements, if necessary. Then, the teacher informs the students that during the lesson they will focus on one of these types of power – the judiciary.

Implementation:

1. The teacher displays on the whiteboard the interactive scheme “Constitutional principles of judiciary functioning in Poland”. The teacher asks the students to:

• explain how they understand the above‑mentioned principles of functioning of the judiciary (What does this principle consist in?),

• provide specific solutions and mechanisms that enable the implementation of this principle (How is this principle implemented in Poland?),

• find appropriate articles regulating this principle in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland and read them out.

Students present their proposals and the teacher complements and corrects their statements, if necessary, during the teaching conversation. When listing articles of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the teacher reveals individual principles and students can verify on an ongoing basis whether they have indicated the correct provision in the Basic Law.

Then, the teacher initiates a discussion on the meaning of the listed principles. The teacher asks students to specify which of these principles seems the most important to them and why. Students give their proposals together with argumentation.

2. The teacher asks students to read the definition of judicial independence contained in the abstract (Leszek Garlicki “Polish constitutional law. Lecture outline” ). The students’ task will be to come up with solutions that would enable this principle to be put into practice.

The teacher asks the students to form groups of 4 and do the task. Then, they will form larger groups and agree on a common stance until a class list with their suggestions is created (snowball method). Students may discuss their choices and suggestions. At the end, they discuss them with the teacher. For this purpose, the teacher displays the “Guarantees of judicial independence” widget on the interactive whiteboard. Students compare their suggestions with the guarantees of judicial independence regulated by the Polish Constitution. If there are solutions that have not been mentioned by students, the teacher asks students to explain them (what they consist in and why they are important).

3. The teacher asks the students to do Exercise 1. Willing/selected students present their answers and the rest of the students verify their correctness. The teacher also asks students to indicate why the other answers provided under the task are not correct.

4. The teacher initiates a discussion on the most serious threats to the independence of judges and autonomy of the judiciary in Poland. The teacher supplements and corrects the students' suggestions and the willing/selected student writes them on the board in the form of a mind map.

5. The teacher asks students to recall the structure of the judiciary in Poland. The teacher asks them about the types of courts and their mutual relations. On the basis of students' suggestions, the teacher creates on the board a diagram of the Polish judiciary structure (taking into account the common, military and administrative judiciary).

6. The teacher asks students to count down to 5 and remember their numbers. The students' task (in groups of students according to the assigned number) is to discuss and assimilate information on:

1. regional courts,

2. district courts,

3. courts of appeal,

4. administrative courts,

5. military courts.

Then the students form new groups with numbers from 1 to 5 and “the experts” pass on their knowledge to the other members of the group.

Summary:

1. At the end of the lesson the teacher asks the students a question: What else do you think you need to learn about judiciary in order to be satisfied with the level of your knowledge and skills?

Willing/selected students give their answers.

2. Homework proposal:

a. Analyse the interactive scheme “Examples of competencies of administrative courts”. Search the Internet and write down specific decisions of administrative courts, which will be examples of each of these competences.

b. Listen to the abstract recording to review the material and new vocabulary. Then do the vocabulary exercise at the end of the chapter.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Judicial power in Poland

The Constitution of the Republic of Poland contains many provisions defining the basic principles of the operation of the third power. These concern the rules of organizing the judiciary and the fair trial, as well as the rights of an individual related to court proceedings.

The principle of judicial independence was explicitly expressed in art. 178 para. 1 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, which provides: judges, within the exercise of their office, shall be independent and subject only to the Constitution and statutes. This is the material guarantee of independence.

In practice, in order to ensure real independence for judges, the manner of their appointment, as well as formal and material guarantees, which stabilize their position and legal situation, are of significant importance. According to art. 179 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, the judges are appointed by the President of the Republic of Poland at the request of the National Council of the Judiciary. The appointment of a judge by the President of the Republic of Poland is the culmination of a long procedure, in which the qualification of the candidate for this office is assessed.

Guarantees of judicial independence

Common courts implement the administration of justice concerning all matters save for those statutorily reserved to other courts. They include district courts, regional courts, and courts of appeal.

A district court is established for one or more than one commune, or for part of a commune. It is a court of the first instance. In each district court penal (criminal) and civil divisions are established. If required, family and juvenile, commercial, labour and social insurance, and land and mortgage register divisions are also created. There are more than 300 district courts operating in Poland nowadays.

A regional court is established for a local competence area of at least two district courts, referred to as the „court circuit”. These are courts of the second instance in cases first examined by district courts, and courts of the first instance in other cases (e.g. more serious offences). Usually, in the regional courts there are: penal, civil, labour and social insurance, commercial, penitentiary and telecommunications divisions. In addition, the Regional Court in Warsaw keeps a register of political parties. There are 46 regional courts in Poland.

Courts of appeal are courts of the second instance in cases in which the regional court was the first instance. Currently, 11 courts of appeal operate in Poland.

The Supreme Administrative Court and other administrative courts exercise, to the extent specified by statute, control over the performance of public administration. Their competences encompass among others:

• judging in cases of complaints on administrative decisions,

• judging on the conformity to the statute of resolutions of organs of local government and normative acts of territorial organs of government administration,

• resolving disputes over competences between bodies of local government units, as well as between bodies of local government units and government administration bodies.

Administrative courts are voivodeship administrative courts (there are 16 in Poland) and the Supreme Administrative Court, which also supervises the activities of voivodeship administrative courts. It deals, among others, with cassation complaints against judgments of voivodeship administrative courts and complaints against their decisions. The Supreme Administrative Court is divided into three chambers: financial, economic and general administrative.

Military courts are criminal courts. Criminal responsibility is borne before these courts by:

• soldiers in active military service,

• civilian employees of the army in matters related to work for the armed forces,

• soldiers of armed forces of foreign countries staying in Poland, if the agreement specifying the rules of their stay provides for such responsibility.

Military courts of the first instance are military garrison courts. Appeals against judgments made by the garrison courts are examined by military regional courts, which may also be courts of the first instance in the most serious cases. In such a situation, the court of the second instance is the Military Chamber of the Supreme Court.

In modern democratic systems, it is assumed that the judiciary should not be subject to current political influence. It has certain specific features that distinguish it from legislative and executive power. First of all, its activity is based solely on the law, not on the political requirements of purposefulness and efficiency. Secondly, the main task of the judiciary is to resolve disputes that arise in the process of applying the law or establishing it. The condition of the proper functioning of the judiciary is the observance of the principle of independence of courts and the independence of judges.