The Court system
In Poland the courts, with the Supreme Court at their head, together with the independent State Tribunal and Constitutional Tribunal, ensure the independence of the judiciary.
The jurisdiction in Poland is performed by the Supreme Court, the common courts and special courts.
The Supreme Court supervises the adjudication in: • General courts - include district, regional, and appeal courts; are competent to hear criminal law cases, civil law cases, family and custody law cases, labour law cases and social insurance cases. The seriousness of the offense determines which is the court of first instance. Misdemeanors (wykroczenia, występki- mostly traffic violations) generally are handled by panels of "social adjudicators," who are elected by local government councils.
• Administrative courts - a separate court system which deals with adjudication on the legal compliance of decisions taken by administrative bodies. It also settles cases between legal persons (corporations) or private citizens and administrative bodies. • Military courts - that is military circuit / provincial courts and garrison / military unit courts. They deal with matters relating to crimes committed by soldiers in active service, civilian employees in military units, and prisoners of war. They have judiciary control within the Polish Army in criminal cases and other cases that were subscribed to them by relevant statutes.
The Polish Constitution and other laws make a number of due process guarantees. Some of these include:
An equal right to be heard by a court of law.
All hearings, unless specified by law, are open to the public.
Defendants have a right to counsel, and are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The right to remain silent in the face of criminal accusations. An accused's silence may not be used against him or her at trial.
As a rule the accused has a right to be present at every action of the evidentiary proceedings at trial, and his/her presence at the main trial is mandatory.
Unlike the American legal system, the Polish legal system remains largely inquisitorial, rather than adversarial. Polish judges remain responsible for calling and questioning witnesses in order to ascertain the facts of the case, although more adversarial procedures have come into practice, such as allowing the parties and their counsel to address questions directly to witnesses at trial.
Courts are largely staffed by professional judges, but the Constitution does embrace the principle of public participation in the judicial process.
-In most criminal trials of first instance, the court traditionally sits in a panel consisting of one professional judge and two lay assessors, unless otherwise provided by law. A majority of the panel determines both guilt and sentencing in criminal cases.
-When a case is highly complex, the President of the Court may call for the case to be heard by three professional judges.
-In less serious criminal cases, at the first and appellate instance levels, a case may be handled by a single judge through summary and expedited proceedings.
-For most civil cases a single professional judge is most common, the same is in labor and social security cases, as well as in family cases.
1. District Courts
à courts of first instance for a wide variety of areas, such as criminal, civil, commercial, labour, family, land and mortgage matters(concentrate on minor, routine offenses) .
à the courts traditionally sat in panels consisting of one professional judge and two lay assessors, but, in practice, most cases are now being heard only by a single professional judge.
2. Regional Courts / Provincial Courtsà the second tier of courts in Poland
à have competency over appeals against judgments of District Courts = consider appeals of the district court verdicts
à also serve as courts of first instance for specific cases as defined by law (usually more serious or complicated cases involving serious crimes, complex civil suits, divorce, etc) = take on more serious cases
3. Appelate Courts / Courts of Appeal
à are charged solely with appeals
à function as the courts of second instance
à hear appeals from judgments passed in the first instance by the Regional Courts
à the Presidents of the Courts of Appeal exercise administrative supervision over the district and provincial courts within a given region.
4. Supreme Courtà the highest judicial organ in Poland controlling the activity of all the courts.
à has final appellate jurisdiction over civil and criminal cases= last resort of appeal against judgments in the lower courts
à also has jurisdiction over other types of cases, such as electoral law, but it generally does not have jurisdiction over constitutional matters
à additionally handles appeals through a cassation procedure
à it may pass non-binding resolutions on the interpretation of laws= It passes resolutions to clarify specific legal provisions and resolve disputable questions in specific cases. à in addition to adjudicating cases that fall under its jurisdiction, the Supreme Court supervises all other courts.àThe President of the Republic of Poland appoints Supreme Court justices/ judges from a list prepared by an independent National Judicial Council, and justices are appointed for life terms.
à The President also selects the First President/ the First Chairman of the Supreme Court (The presiding officer of the Supreme Court) from candidates presented by the General / National Assembly of the Supreme Court of Justice.
5. Supreme Administrative Courtà is organized as a single court based in Warsaw with branches in major cities that deals with the judicial review of administrative acts
à the main function is to review and standardize administrative regulations enforced by government agencies and to hear citizens' complaints concerning the legality of administrative decisions. Mostly deals with taxes, social welfare issues, and local government decisions.
à exercises control over the legality of local regulations
à the President of the Republic appoints judges to this court à supervises public administration in order to safeguard its compliance within the law ( in other words it takes care of the administrative judiciary, has judicial control of public administration)
6. State Tribunal
à deals with political and criminal infringements on the Constitution or other laws by high-ranking state officials= It is the judicial body, which rules on the constitutional liability of people holding the highest offices of state.
à 27 members of the Tribunal of State are elected by the Sejm for the term of the Sejm
à judges in the State Tribunal are independent and bound only by the lawà The First President of the Supreme Court / the chairperson serves as the ex officio chairperson of the Supreme Court
à passes judgment on the guilt or innocence of the highest office holders in the land accused of violating the constitution and laws
àIt examines cases concerning the infringement of the Constitution and laws or crimes committed by the President of the Republic of Poland, members of the government , the President of the Supreme Chamber of Control, the President of the National Bank of Poland, heads of central administrative offices and other senior state officials. àThe State Tribunal is empowered to rule for the removal of individuals from public office, to impose injunctions on individuals against their appointment to senior offices, to revoke an individual's right to vote and to stand for election, to withdraw previously awarded medals, distinctions, and titles of honour, and in criminal cases to impose penalties stipulated in the criminal code.àThe composition of the State Tribunal is established at the first sitting of each new Sejm and is binding for its term.
àThe head of the office is the First President of the Supreme Court. His two deputies and 16 members of the State Tribunal are chosen from outside the Sejm. Members of the State Tribunal must hold Polish citizenship, may not have a criminal record or have had their civic rights revoked, nor may they be employed in the state administration.
7. Constitutional Tribunalà ensures the compliance of laws with the Constitution and of regulations with the law
à this Tribunal is additionally charged with formulating "universally binding interpretations of the laws."
à The Sejm selects the members of the Constitutional Tribunal "from among the persons, who are distinguished in the knowledge of law," to eight-year terms
à The Constitution states that members of the Tribunal are fully independent and subject only to the Constitution. Individuals may not petition this body.
à rules on the constitutionality of legislation, its decisions are final and binding
à serves as the main body for the protection of the Constitution, its tasks being the review of the constitutionality of statutes, and the protection of constitutional order and fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
à It is an organ of judiciary, competent to decide the conformity of the issued law with the Constitution, disputes concerning competence between the organs of central administration, the conformity of the political parties tasks with the Constitution and to hear constitutional complaints filed by citizens.
àThe Constitutional Tribunal is made up of 15 judges chosen by Sejm for nine-year terms.
The National Judicial Council / The National Council of the Judiciary
à is an independent body of experts comprised primarily of judges, but includes representatives from other branches of government. Seventeen of the 26 members of the Council must be judges, with the others being legal professionals from the legislative or executive branches.
à the main function of the Council is recommending judgeship candidates to the President, who officially makes the appointments
à the Council determines whether a judge may be transferred from one court to another, sets the number of disciplinary judges, and comments on ethical issues and other matters concerning the judiciary, such as legislation and training.
à another basic function of the body is to oversee the entire judiciary and establish professional standards.
t Administration
The Minister of Justice
à supervises the administration of the courts
à the Minister is responsible for establishing courts and providing them with adequate resources.
à serves as The Prosecutor General - his mission is to safeguard law and order and ensure prosecution of crimes.
Ombudsman – Civil Right Intercessor – The Commissioner for Citizens' Rights – Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection
à a body responsible for the protection of civil rights and liberties.
à hears the complaints from the individuals and may take up steps to annul the breaches; has a right of initiative to eliminate the contradictions between the legal acts; sends conclusions to relevant organs in order to exercise their right of legislative initiative; influences the directions of interpretation of the law concerning civil right and liberties; and provides for the Parliament and the public opinion reports on the state of civil rights and liberties.
à main task is to safeguard individual civil rights and liberties.
à appointed to a four-year term by the Sejm with Senate approval; the commissioner is independent of other state agencies and answers only to the Sejm.
à the commissioner's mandate is to investigate on behalf of individual citizens or organizations possible infractions of Polish law or basic principles of justice by public officials, institutions, or organizations.
à although the commissioner may review the administration of the courts, he or she may intercede only in matters such as scheduling of cases.
à in military or internal security matters, the commissioner does not investigate evidence but channels cases to the appropriate jurisdiction.
à commissioner confronts the accused party and conveys official displeasure at a given action or policy. The commissioner also may request the initiation of civil, criminal, or administrative proceedings and appeal to the Constitutional Tribunal to review a law's constitutionality or consistency with a higher statute.
à conducts systematic inspections of prisons in response to inmates' complaints. Following the inspections, the commissioner issued a comprehensive report, which has resulted in a more humane, less congested prison system.
A. QualificationsJudicial selection is based on objective criteria and legal requirements. In order to qualify for appointment to the bench, judicial candidates must meet the following criteria:
Minimum age of 26 years
A legal education
Completion of a court-sponsored training program
Successful completion of the state judicial examination
Polish citizenship
B. Appointmentà Judges are generally selected on a competitive basis by the courts.
· After graduating from law school (University departments), young lawyers may apply for special training within the courts ("aplikacja").
· Following two years of theoretical and practical training, which consists of both substantive law and judging skills, the judicial candidates must pass the state judicial examination.
· The head of the commission which administers the exam is the Minister of Justice or his representative.
· Based on the examination results, the Minister appoints (for up to two years) a limited number of apprentices/trainees who are entitled to sit in a judicial capacity in lower instance courts.
· After the interim trial period, these apprentices are examined by collective judicial bodies and the apprentices' files are submitted to the National Judicial Council.
· Upon motion by the National Council, the selected candidates are appointed by the President of the Republic of Poland to serve for life.
· Judges are nominated by the national judicial council and appointed by the President. They are appointed for life and can be reassigned but not dismissed, except by a court decision.
à Lay assessors are appointed by local court presidents upon election by local councils (organizations of local administration elected in universal ballots) from among candidates presented by organizations, enterprises, groups of citizens and local court presidents.
· As a rule, they adjudicate for no more than 12 days per year.
· Lay assessors serve four year terms and may be reelected.
· Lay assessors have the same rights as career judges, and their decisions are treated with the same weight as those of professional judges.
· For example, in criminal matters, lay assessors decide both questions of guilt and the length of sentencing. Consequently, on the traditional court panel of one professional and two lay judges, lay judges may determine the outcome.
C. Salary and Promotionà J...
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