The March constitution – a constitution of paradoxes

This article presents a synthetic attempt to address the role that the March Constitution of 1921 has played in the development of the Polish constitutional thought. It discusses the achievements and the weaknesses of the March Constitution. On the one hand, its significant advantages included recognising a catalogue of fundamental rights, guaranteeing independence of the judiciary, introducing judicial control of administrative acts and state liability for breaches of law. On the other hand, its weaknesses lay in the lack of solutions to stabilise the position of the government, a broad and imprecisely defined status of decree laws, and the lack of constitutionality review of laws. The modern and democratic solutions of the March Constitution exceeded the level of advancement of the political and legal culture in the society, which led to abuse and distortion of its constitutional mechanisms, and to an inability to secure the rule of law.

This article presents a synthetic attempt to address the role that the March Constitution of 1921 has played in the development of the Polish constitutional thought. It discusses the achievements and the weaknesses of the March Constitution. On the one hand, its significant advantages included recognising a catalogue of fundamental rights, guaranteeing independence of the judiciary, introducing judicial control of administrative acts and state liability for breaches of law. On the other hand, its weaknesses lay in the lack of solutions to stabilise the position of the government, a broad and imprecisely defined status of decree laws, and the lack of constitutionality review of laws. The modern and democratic solutions of the March Constitution exceeded the level of advancement of the political and legal culture in the society, which led to abuse and distortion of its constitutional mechanisms, and to an inability to secure the rule of law.