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The Legal System of Poland

How polish legal system actually works and how important the Constitution is? You can easily find out by checking out our new article.

The legal system of Poland is based on the continental legal system (civil law tradition). The sources of generally binding law in Poland are: the Constitution, laws, ratified international agreements and regulations. The Constitution as currently in force since 1997 is considered the most important source of law in Poland. It includes, inter alia, information about the system of government of Poland and the separation of the legislative, executive and judicial powers. The legislative power is vested in the Parliament consisting of the Sejm (the lower house) and the Senate (the upper house), whereas the executive power is vested in the President of the Republic of Poland and the Council of Ministers. The judicial power in Poland is exercised by the Supreme Court, common courts, administrative courts and military courts.

The common courts in Poland are competent to hear civil law cases, commercial law cases, criminal law cases, labor law cases as well as social insurance cases. They are divided into:
1) the district courts which are courts of first instance and handle most cases;
2) the regional courts which are courts of both first and second instance and deal with serious cases and appeals;
3) the courts of appeal which are courts of second instance only and handle appeals against decisions of regional courts acting as first instance courts.

The Supreme Court exercises supervision over common and military courts regarding judgments as well as performs other activities specified in the Constitution and laws, in particular adopts resolutions concerning the interpretation of law.

When it comes to judicial control over the performance of the public administration, it falls under the voivodship administrative courts and the Supreme Administrative Court.

Finally, there is also the Constitutional Tribunal that is competent to, inter alia, decide on the conformity of statutes and international agreements to the Constitution, hear constitutional complaints filed by citizens as well as settle disputes over competence between central administration organs.