Attorney-at-law in the proceedings conducted by the new OLAF and EPPO

The article extensively discusses the issue of combating broadly understood white-collar crime and crimes affecting the interests of the European Union, per the PIF Directive, as well as the new police and investigative powers of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). The author not only discusses OLAF’s policing and investigating powers but also points to the role of an attorney-at-law as a person who serves both advice and ensures that procedural guarantees are observed. By presenting in detail the catalogue of procedural guarantees and the role of the Controller of Procedural Guarantees, the author indicates the mechanisms of ensuring the protection of the person who is subject to EU investigation as well as presenting the necessity for a support of a professional legal representative. The detailed description of procedural guarantees is followed by postulates of strengthening the independence and expansion of the system of protection of procedural guarantees by providing it with an independent back office and establishing Controllers of Procedural Guarantees in countries where OLAF will be the leading institution of European investigations (Poland, Hungary, Sweden, Ireland and Denmark).

Compensation for recovery costs – selected issues

The subject of consideration is the right of the creditor to demand a flat-rate compensation for recovery costs from the debtor, established in the Act on Prevention of Excessive Delays in Commercial Transactions. Since its introduction into the Polish legal order, this right has given rise to significant interpretative doubts, particularly concerning the prerequisites for rendering the compensation immediately due and payable, the debtor’s ability to defend against this claim, and the issue of including the compensation in the costs of the lawsuit or in the value of the subject matter of the dispute in court proceedings. These doubts, in the author’s opinion, are largely due to the shortcomings of the legal regulation of compensation, which does not include in its scope many important issues, as well as its highly autonomous nature, which in turn prevents the analogous application of solutions concerning other legal institutions.

Legal aspects of “neighborhood” nuisance – Part Two (civil liability)

The authors analyze civil law protection measures, in particular the claim for the protection of personal rights under Article 23 and Article 24 of the Polish Civil Code, as well as the restitution claim under Article 222 § 2 of the Polish Civil Code due to nuisances, which may be applicable in counteracting “neighborhood” nuisance such as noise.

The consequences of a voivodeship administrative court’s upholding the complaint on the Ministry of Justice’s opposition to registration on the list of attorneys-at-law

The main aim of this work is to analyze the consequences voivodeship administrative court’s ruling which revokes the opposition to registration on the legal counsel’s list issued by the Ministry of Justice. The main issue here is the fact, that due to Article 152 § 1 of the Act on Administrative Courts Proceedings, the effect of a ruling which revokes the administrative act is that the legal effects of such an act are suspended until the court’s ruling will not be final and enforceable. In such a case, an important question arises – should the competent authorities of the National Bar of Attorneys-at-Law assume that the registration on the attorneys at law’s list is legal and as a result set the date for the candidate to take the oath? The analysis of the law and the nature of the Ministry’s objection leads to conclusions that the aforementioned effect of Article 152 § 1 does not occur in such a case. This is due to the dual nature of the objection. On the one hand, it is an administrative act (conventional activity), but on the other hand, it is part of the hypothesis of the legal norm preventing the release of the disposition. As a result, it can be assumed that the objection in this regard is a factual act.

Nature and its elements. Objects of legal protection or subjects of law?

The article discusses the legal status of nature and its selected elements. The author confronts the achievements of legal thought with the postulates of strengthening nature protection by empowering some of its resources. The author discusses whether the current legal order, which undoubtedly treats nature and the environment as objects of legal protection, allows for treating nature (environment) and its elements as subjects of law. The foundations of the legal protection of the environment, including nature, are presented in the Environmental Protection Act of 2001 and the Nature Conservation Act of 2004. These acts formulate legal definitions of the environment, natural environment and nature protection, while at the same time indicating elements of nature or natural resources. On the one hand, it is possible to discuss comprehensive nature protection, and on the other hand, the protection of individual natural resources (environment). The legal status of individual natural resources is rather diverse. The legislator does not diversify the legal protection granted to individual natural resources. In this case, one may ask why only some natural elements should be entitled to subjectivity since even natural scientists refuse to differentiate the rank and significance of natural elements. The author puts forward the thesis that the ideas of giving specific natural resources subjectivity and even legal personality, which is supposed to promote their better protection, are not correlated with the applicable legal regulations. In addition, they express skepticism as to more effective protection through further organizational and legal forms.

An attempt at reflection on the state response to the COVID-19 pandemic – remarks on the legal order during the period of the epidemic and its impact on human rights and freedoms

The article concerns the relevant legal aspects of the state of epidemics, the state of epidemic emergency and the state of natural disaster, as well as the permissible procedures for restricting rights and freedoms during these states in light of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. In particular, the vagueness of the prerequisites for the introduction of these states and the arbitrariness of the application of solutions, including anti-epidemic restrictions through ordinances are pointed out. The issue of punishing violations of anti-epidemic prohibitions and orders is also raised, with emphasis on the low effectiveness of administrative penalties. Excessive powers of the executive and responding to an emergency without parliamentary control are also pointed out.

Gloss to the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Łódź of April 25, 2018, case file no. I AGa 109/18

The aim of the study is to analyze and evaluate the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Łódź of April 25, 2018, case file no. I AGa 109/18. In that judgement, it is stated that, in the event of an action for the right to take over the assets of a general partnership being brought against a partner on whose part there was no reason for the dissolution of that entity (Article 66 of the Polish Code of Commercial Companies), the court must assess the reasons for which a formal declaration of termination of the general partnership agreement was made, as well as the substantive reasons justifying the making of such declaration. At the same time, the Court stated that it was unnecessary to justify the termination of a general partnership. The position taken by the Court deserves only partial approval. The author proves this thesis by first analysing the arguments used by this Court and then comparing the aforementioned judgment with other decisions of common courts of law and the views of the doctrine.

Overview of the decisions of the Polish Supreme Court

The Judgment of the Polish Supreme Court of April 13, 2023 (case file no. III CZP 125/22) is of particular importance for legal practice. The Court indicated that a claim for a legitime does not pass to the heir of the person entitled to the legitime if they do not belong to the group of persons entitled to a legitime after the first testator (Article 1002 of the Civil Code). In the Judgment of March 15, 2023 (case file no. II CSKP 1835/22), the Polish Supreme Court stated that the joint intention of the parties should be understood as the agreed factual and legal elements shaping the essential provisions of the contract. The contractual objective is the broadest socio-economic objective of the individualized agreement. Moreover, in the Resolution of February 22, 2023 (case file no. III KK 13/22), the Polish Supreme Court decided that an electric scooter equipped with an engine with parameters similar to the power of an electrically assisted bicycle engine, which retains all the normal characteristics of construction, enabling its normal operation as a scooter, i.e. moving by pushing off with the leg, is not a motor vehicle within the meaning of the provisions of the Polish Penal Code.